OLATHE, Kan. — With a strong focus on accelerating bioscience commercialization, food safety research, and the development of cutting-edge cancer treatments, the Kansas Bioscience Authority has set a course for addressing national bioscience challenges — all while contributing significantly to Kansas’ economic recovery in the coming year.

In its fiscal year 2011 plan ratified today, the KBA outlined $36.9 million in new funding commitments to be made to bioscience researchers and businesses, with implementation set to begin July 1. Estimated investments of $21.4 million in research and development and $15.5 million in commercialization projects will bring the KBA’s cumulative investment commitments to $263 million since inception.

KBA president Tom Thornton said funding is aimed squarely at helping industry and bioscientists create jobs, increase research funding, and attract investment capital.

“This plan builds on our extraordinary record of success, and it allows us to continue investing heavily in Kansas’ areas of bioscience strength, with commercialization and economic growth as top priorities,” Thornton said.

Through March, KBA investments already had realized outcomes of 1,181 new jobs, $149.7 million in capital expenditures, $69.4 million in research funding, and $31.2 million in equity investments. Including estimated wages, the result has been an $8.81 return to the state’s economy for each $1 invested by the KBA.

Further, a national site selection magazine ranked Kansas #9 in the nation on its Top 10 list of states for biotechnology, highlighting the state’s success by placing it alongside established bio powerhouses such as California, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

Thornton said these outcomes will grow significantly as additional milestones are achieved by businesses and researchers and as the KBA takes the following targeted actions in the next fiscal year:

• Leverage the magnetic impact of the animal health sector, including the attraction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, Arthropod-Borne Animal Diseases Research Unit, and Center of Excellence for Emerging Zoonotic Animal Diseases.


• Share Kansas’ unique cancer drug development capabilities with the world and deliver cutting-edge treatments closer to home.


• Attract additional eminent and rising star scholars to the state.


• Provide hands-on business assistance and attract significant new startup and growth capital to Kansas in order to speed up companies’ ability to raise the capital they need to expand and create jobs.


• Increase commercialization of new technology by linking industry and academic in established centers of innovation.