North Carolina's Biotechnology Investment Tops Billion-Dollar Mark; Battelle Study Quantifies Economic Dividend...(nd one of the many North Carolina worker...)

• Matthew Meyer, director of the North Carolina Community Colleges' BioNetwork biotechnology training program;

• Sam Taylor, president of the North Carolina Biosciences Organization;

• Norris Tolson, president and CEO of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center;

• Simon Tripp, principal consultant with the Battelle Memorial Institute's Technology Partnership Practice.

Key Findings of the Battelle Report include:

As of 2006, the latest year for data totals:

• The biotechnology sector directly produced yearly revenue in North Carolina of $28.7 billion.
• Biotechnology employed 53,200 people.
• Biotech directly provided annual payroll of $4.5 billion.
• The state's biotech employees earn an average $69,725 a year ($32,000 more than other private-sector workers in the state).
• Employee compensation for direct, indirect and induced impact is $9.4 billion.
• State and local tax revenues from the total economic impact is $1.4 billion.

From 2001 to 2006

• Net job growth in the state's bioscience sector was 18.5 percent.
• That rate of growth is three times the national bioscience rate.
• North Carolina easily leads the top 10 biotech states' in this statistic.
• Biotech job growth was five times that of the rest of North Carolina's private business sector.