News + Blog

Colorado Funds Bioscience Breakthroughs

By: Colorado BioScience Association   Date: 07/11/2017

Colorado promotes growth and sustainability for the state’s nine identified Advanced Industries, which make up 30% of the Centennial state’s economy, through a state-led Advanced Industry (AI) Accelerator Grant Program. We’re proud to highlight this critical state funding as part of our Breakthrough Profiles series.


With grants to the state’s Advanced Industries, including bioscience, Colorado accelerates commercialization, encourages public-private partnerships, increases access to early stage capital and creates a strong ecosystem that increases the state’s global competitiveness.


An Industry-Critical Program

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) provided $8.68 Million to Colorado bioscience companies through the AI Grant Program in 2016. Since inception, this industry-critical program supporting the bioscience sector in Colorado has awarded $45.9 million in grants to bioscience entities, and continues to make an economic impact in the state, creating:
 
  • 56 new bioscience companies
  • 597 direct jobs
  • $530 million in additional investment in bioscience

Sector Growth

More than 720 bioscience companies call Colorado home. They employ 30,000 people and create more than 159,000 direct and indirect jobs. This thriving industry includes: medical device, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, ag bio, biotechnology and digital health companies working alongside educational and research institutions.
 
The convergence of Colorado’s growing bioscience sector with a robust technology industry means Colorado ranks as an innovator in digital health and health technology. Advanced Industry grants provide a company like CereScan, a neurodiagnostic company that combines state-of-the-art brain imaging technologies with a patient-centered model of care with the critical funds needed for growth.
 

“The grant came at a critical point in our development as we prepared to transition from an imaging company to a MaaS (Medical Analytics as a Service Platform),” said Steve Warneke, President of Cerescan. “We needed funding to advance our development. After receiving the AI Grant, we raised an additional $5.2 million from investors on the strength of the platform development funded by the grant.”

 

Bioscience Grant Types

The state’s AI Accelerator Grant Program offers three grant types for bioscience companies:

Proof of Concept Grants Identify and pull technologies from research institutions where they were discovered and connect them to the private sector, where they can be developed into products for commercialization.

Early-Stage Capital & Retention Grants Fund companies using technologies developed in proof-of-concept grants and other early-stage start-ups that have created viable products that meet a market need and that can be created or manufactured in Colorado and exported globally.

Infrastructure Funding Grants Accelerate commercialization and innovation of AI products and services by building capacity and workforce for the AI ecosystem.

Learn more about Colorado’s Advanced Industry Accelerator Grant Program and why more entrepreneurs have opted to Choose Colorado as the home for their businesses.


Categories: CBSA News