Biotech

Today, 40 states target biotechnology or life sciences for development, and all 50 states have technology-based economic development initiatives that are available to biotechnology companies.

There is the potential for the biotech industry to create hundreds of new jobs, all high-paying, so that does have an economic impact, O’Donnell said.

Sirna announced it was moving its headquarters to San Francisco because it needed to be closer to investment bankers, venture capitalists and buy-side analysts.

"What you’ve got is big for the community and big for Montana, but it also represents what we like about biotech in Montana," Schweitzer said. "You’re one of the wheels of the buggy and we need to keep you on. We’re not going to let you slip away."

In synchronizing their resources and priorities with local technology enterprises, they can form the interconnections that foster knowledge transform, collaboration, and support that cannot easily be replicated by other regions.

"Don’t ever assume there is a shortage of capital," Burrill said. "Capital is available for good ideas — your job is to find them."

While individuals have always played a key role in funding biotech startups, today’s angels represent a new breed — one that bears striking similarities to venture capitalists.

Spokane’s Gonzaga University may be most widely recognized for its nationally ranked men’s basketball team, but the private liberal arts school is aggressively positioning itself to be prominent in another field: Biotechnology research.

"Montana’s BioScience industry is steadily developing," said Montana’s Governor Brian Schweitzer.

In fact, there is increasing evidence that the biotech industry may converge with nonbiological technologies into a new and advanced industrial identity as science and business increase their creative collisions. No state or region looking toward their economic future will want to sit on the sidelines.