“
When I moved here 12 years ago, we had great science. 
Today, we have something much bigger. We have critical mass.

BYRON HEWETT, LIFE SCIENCES STRATEGIC ADVISOR 
CBSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR  
Venture Partners was built around that 
premise. The organization serves as a 
connector to help researchers navi­
gate intellectual property, translational 
funding, mentorship, startup formation, 
and industry partnerships while reducing 
the friction that often slows commercial­
ization. Programs such as the Lab Venture 
Challenge and NSF I-Corps™ create early 
opportunities for faculty and students to 
envision pathways beyond the laboratory. 
Venture Partners is also investing in arts 
and humanities through the Creative 
Futures Fellowship.
At its core, Venture Partners embodies 
what sets Colorado apart: a culture where 
disciplines converge, collaboration accel­
erates discovery, and breakthrough ideas 
become industries that shape the future.
Byron Hewett Highlights 
Opportunities to 
Accelerate Growth
Colorado’s rise as a leading location for 
health innovation relies on a landscape 
where universities, startups, global com­
panies, investors, clinicians, manufacturers, 
and entrepreneurs translate alignment into 
action. Working together, the life sciences 
community is driving to become a top-five 
hub for health innovation.   
Today, the ecosystem generates $52.4 
billion in economic impact, employs 
nearly 41,000 Coloradans in careers with 
$123,000 annual average salaries, and has 
propelled Denver-Boulder into the top 
20 global life sciences R&D clusters. Life 
sciences companies raised a record $3.2 
billion in 2025, followed by another wave 
of major financings and acquisitions in 
2026 that signaled something even more 
important than growth: maturity.
For Byron Hewett, entrepreneur, stra­
tegic advisor, and Chair of the Colorado 
BioScience Association Board of Directors, 
the extraordinary transformation is the 
product of intentional investments.
“When I moved here 12 years ago, we had 
great science,” Hewett says. “Today, we 
have something much bigger. We have 
critical mass.” 
laboratory space companies need to 
grow is part of what allows an innova­
tion ecosystem to thrive.”
Looking ahead, Hewett says the vision 
for growth won’t be defined by a single 
breakthrough but by convergence that 
accelerates the pace of innovation in 
ways that were unimaginable just a 
decade ago. 
“The next wave of breakthroughs won’t 
come from biology alone,” Hewett says. 
“They’ll come from collaboration across 
biology, artificial intelligence, quantum 
technologies, and engineering, and 
Colorado is uniquely positioned where 
those disciplines intersect.”  
That convergence is shaping the 
Colorado Life Sciences Strategic 
Roadmap, led by Hewett and the CBSA 
Board of Directors. A bold vision for 
what comes next, the effort focuses on 
positioning Colorado at the forefront of 
health impact, identifying where innova­
tion is headed, and ensuring the state’s 
strengths become catalysts for break­
throughs that will redefine health and 
care. It will be released in 2027.
Colorado’s universities are engines of 
commercialization, supporting world-
class research with entrepreneurship 
programs, proof-of-concept funding, 
and accelerators that help scientists build 
companies. The ecosystem also com­
pounds over time. Landmark exits such 
as Array BioPharma’s acquisition by Pfizer 
seeded a new generation of companies led 
by experienced founders and executives 
who choose to build their current and 
future ventures in Colorado. 
The state’s geography amplifies those 
advantages. Located in the center of the 
country, Colorado connects innovators to 
both coasts while Denver International 
Airport links the ecosystem to global 
markets, investors, and collaborators. At 
the same time, investments like BioMed 
Realty’s transformation of Flatiron Park 
and the concentration of innovation 
industries across Colorado’s Front Range 
cities offer ease of access to the labora­
tory infrastructure companies need to 
scale without leaving the state.
“Infrastructure matters in bioscience,” 
Hewett says. “Having an airport that 
connects you to the world and the 
Byron Hewett (center) tours Enveda during CBSA’s Drive to Five: 
Colorado Life Sciences Innovation Tour in 2025. 
2026-27 BIOSCIENCE COLORADO     21

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