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Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2006 Archive > December > Buffalo Niagara Business Community Bolsters Support of Life Science Industr

For immediate release: November 14, 2006
 
NEWS: Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, Buffalo Niagara Partnership
 
For information contact:
 
Therese Hickok, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, (716) 842-1357, ext. 109/(716) 200-3593
             
Hadley Pawlak, Buffalo Niagara Partnership, (716) 852-7100, ext. 453/(716) 310-8331
 
 
Buffalo Niagara Business Community Bolsters Support of Life Sciences
  
Realigned services will address unique needs of growing target sector
 
(Buffalo, NY) In response to the on-going growth of the region’s life sciences industry, the Buffalo Niagara business and economic development community is realigning the programs, services and development support aimed at this key target industry sector.
The Health Care Industries Association (HCIA) has merged into the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, as have many of the activities of BuffLink, Inc. aimed at building a life sciences culture locally, and to supporting the growth and success of local companies in that industry. The on-going programs and activities will be assumed by the Partnership’s new Life Science Industries Council, which will launch at a reception and presentation on Wednesday, November 15 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the CTG Mansion on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. The Partnership’s new council will bring industry-specific programming to life sciences companies as BuffLink and HCIA have done in the past, and will also help those companies mainstream by bringing them in closer connection with the broader business community. BuffLink and HCIA have been working in close collaboration since 2005 to lay the groundwork for such initiatives.
 
In addition, BuffLink’s business development and marketing activities have shifted to the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE). This, combined with the launch of the Partnership’s Life Science Industries Council, fulfills BuffLink’s original business plan to catalyze growth of a regional life sciences industry, and then cease operations as a stand-alone entity at the appropriate time. Since 2003, BuffLink and BNE have operated under a formal strategic partnership to work with start-up and expanding life sciences companies in the Buffalo Niagara region. The full integration of the two organizations will facilitate an even stronger focus on economic development projects within the region’s life science industry cluster.
 
The life sciences sector has grown into a significant segment of Buffalo Niagara’s economy since BuffLink was launched five years ago, said Dr. Ange Fatta, BuffLink chairman. The integration of HCIA and BuffLink with the Partnership and BNE is a natural progression. It signals that efforts to recruit new regional life sciences investment is working, and that assistance to support maturing and expanding businesses is appropriately growing to meet increased demand.
 BuffLink was launched in 2001 as part of the Partnership’s NOW Campaign. Dr. Fatta chaired the organization as a volunteer, and drove the organization to create an environment that supports commercial outcomes of important life sciences breakthroughs that happen in our region’s research laboratories. HCIA was founded in 1992 as a regional, membership-based organization for life sciences companies, universities, service providers and related organizations. 
 The creation of the Partnership’s Life Science Industries Council ensures that the growing list of life sciences companies and organizations in the Buffalo Niagara region will have a voice that’s heard in the business community, said Dr. Thomas P. Stewart, president of Gaymar Industries Inc., former president of HCIA’s board and now chairman of the Partnership’s Life Science Industries Council. He has also been appointed to the Partnership’s Board of Directors.
 
The business and economic development communities in our region have a track record of working together to promote the growth of the life sciences industry in Buffalo Niagara. As a result, since 2001, the industry has experienced:
 
  • The funding, creation and development of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC), including the completion of the 400,000 square-foot Buffalo Life Sciences complex.
  • The launching of 32 new life sciences companies, with approximately 25 still in operation.
  • The creation of 1,150 new jobs and 1,700 retained jobs in the private sector from life sciences company start-ups, expansions and relocations.
  • The creation of nearly 1,300 direct and indirect research related jobs within regional institutions.
 
Buffalo Niagara Enterprise is the central point of contact for business retention, expansion and attraction for the eight counties of western New York. 
 Buffalo Niagara Partnership is made up of approximately 2,500 local companies that are united in their focus on growing the region’s private sector individual businesses, and the entire business marketplace of Buffalo Niagara. Partnership member companies employ more than 200,000 local people.
 
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