NCBIO-Led Group Receives $100,000 Grant for Emerging Technology Effort

Research Triangle Park, N.C. — North Carolina’s emerging medical device and technology industry is getting a $100,000 jump start from the state’s Biotechnology Center.

A consortium led by the NCBIO organization has landed the grant, but follow-on funding could be worth $2.5 million as part of a phase 2 program. The money will be used to help launch what the Biotech Center calls a “Center of Innovation.”

A similar program focused on nanobiotechnology proposed by a Piedmont-based group was recently funded by the Biotech Center.

“NCBIO believes that this proposed Center of Innovation will allow North Carolina to leverage its existing strengths in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and regenerative medicine to propel it to a national leadership position in the advanced medical technologies industry,” said NCBIO President Sam Taylor in a statement. “With these assets, there is no reason that North Carolina should not achieve the same international prominence in medical technologies that it has attained in biotechnology.”

The grant was announced Tuesday.

NCBIO is just one of numerous organizations involved in the Advanced Medical Technologies program. A project coordinator will be hired for the effort, Taylor said/

Taylor said NCBIO expects to hire a project coordinator for the planning process.

If the plan approved by the Center moves forward and is accepted by the Biotech Center, a follow-on award of $2.5 million grant spread over four years could follow. However, the Center must be self-supporting within five years.

“Each COI demonstrates the exciting possibilities that can come from creative collaborations,” said Ken Tindall, senior vice president of Science and Business Development at the Biotechnology Center. “They’re the keys opening doors to new business sectors that will provide meaningful job opportunities across North Carolina.”

NCBIO’s partners include:

• Charlotte Research Institute

• Duke University Department of Biomedical Engineering

• East Carolina Brody School of Medicine

• Joint School of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

• Wake Forest University Institute for Regenerative Medicine

The Biotech Center and NCBIO collaborated on a study last year that determined the state has a growing medical device industry. The report recommended North Carolina make efforts to capitalize on the potential economic benefits that the industry offered.