The following are excerpts from an article that originally appeared in the Bay State Banner on October 10, 2024:
A new five-year plan released by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, or MassBio, Oct. 2, puts efforts expanding and diversifying the workforce on the list of main priorities to guide the statewide life sciences trade group between now and 2030.
“As we think about ways in which this is an industry that can lift all boats in Massachusetts, let’s make sure the people who are sitting on the sidelines, who live so close to the life sciences industry are able to plug in,” said Ben Bradford, MassBio’s head of external affairs.
The report is a regular five-year effort completed by the trade group to aim to keep the state at the top of its game in the sector.
“If we don’t do these sorts of exercises, there’s an opportunity for other regions to come in and excel where Massachusetts really has an opportunity to excel,” Bradford said.
The report, called Vision 2030, focuses the organization’s perspective for moving the industry forward within the state on six main areas. Those priorities span everything from supporting emerging companies and expanding the state’s workforce, to building new bridges with technologies like artificial intelligence and working to adjust public perception around the sector and how it impacts communities and residents.
In a move to increase access to the Bioversity program and to grow the state’s entry-level biotech workforce — a key goal according to MassBio’s five-year plan — the training program is working to expand its offerings in a push that the trade group officially called “Bioversity@Scale.”
That effort would create outposts across the state to provide training based on regional specialization.
The program is expanding, first to Lowell and the Merrimack Valley, through a partnership with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, announced Sept. 12.
Stanley said the expansion, which is set to officially launch in February, will initially start with a curriculum that’s pretty comparable to the one offered at the Dorchester training center currently, but they plan to adjust it to meet regional needs, following ongoing conversations with employers in the area.