IU claims life sciences will help revive state economy

At his Jan. 15 State of the State address, Gov. Mitch Daniels described Indiana's economy as being in dire straits. \n"Let me sum things up: Our state's economy is too weak, too narrowly based and too often impeded by the very state government that should be its chief advocate and promoter," he said. \nTo improve the base and size of the economy and job market, decision makers across the state are pursuing the life sciences as one of the principle paths for improving the state economy and creating jobs. To this end, IU administrators are doing what they can to "sell" IU's image as a life science power to procure more state funding. \nIU President Adam Herbert has been vocal in recent months about the importance of life sciences research at the University.\n"Gov. Daniels and the legislature are facing many difficult decisions as they craft a new state budget," he wrote in a statement on the IU media relations Web site. "Maintaining Indiana's progress as a life sciences center of excellence should be one of the easier choices they will have to make."\nThe Herald-Times also published an editorial by Herbert Jan. 30 in which he extolled the ways the state and community benefit from life sciences research at IU.\nAdministrators also seek to remind the state of the economic benefits of continuing to fund IU -- that money spent on IU will help generate economic growth statewide.\n"So part of this is to energize the economic development aspect, tell the world that interesting things are going on in the state of Indiana," said Kumble Subbaswamy, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "And also, quite frankly to make the legislature ... understand the importance of supporting higher education as part of the economic development imperative the state faces."\nThis is especially important this year because the Indiana General Assembly is voting on the two-year state appropriations for the University. State funding for IU in 2004 totaled nearly $555 million for all eight campuses -- one in four dollars of its operating budget. \nIn January, IU introduced a Web site -- www.lifesciences.iu.edu -- in conjunction with "IU Life Sciences Week," both of which sought to promote life sciences programs across the University. \nBio Crossroads, which was created in 2002 by a partnership between the mayor of Indianapolis, IU, Purdue, the president and CEO of Eli Lilly and others, seeks to stimulate economic growth and job creation in the life sciences.\n"There was a study done in 2000-2001 by the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership that identified the life sciences as areas that Indiana really has a critical mass," said Bio Crossroads Spokeswoman Jenny Siminski. "We have so many assets here like Indiana University, Purdue, Dow AgroSciences and Eli Lilly."\nThe pattern of research funding also points to economic development hope for the life sciences. The Lilly Foundation, based in Indianapolis, has given two of the largest grants in IU's history for the development of the life sciences. In 2000, the foundation gave $105 million for the Indiana Genomics Initiative and on Dec. 16, it gave a $53 million grant to the Bloomington campus for the Metabolomics and Cytomics Initiative.\nThe endowment views the life sciences as one of the best ways to expand and improve jobs and education in Indiana, said Gretchen Wolfram of the Lilly Foundation's media relations.\n"I just think that the really encouraging factor in all this discussion and all these developments is that the awareness factor has been raised in the past few years," she said, "and that's half the battle." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Zennie at mzennie@indiana.edu.