Connecticut’s shortage of laboratory space for bioscience and life sciences is seen as a major impediment for the industry, but a top economic-development official said a pending deal could help change that.
David Lehman, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, told an audience at Jackson Laboratory in Farmington on Wednesday that the state is in discussions with private investors to construct new wet lab facilities in the New Haven area.
“There will be more to come on that, hopefully in the very near term,” said Lehman, who was speaking at the sixth annual Jax Healthcare Forum, which drew industry executives, investors, scientists and others from around Connecticut and other states.
He said the potential deal would be a public-private partnership, which means the state might kick in some money. In an interview after his speech, Lehman declined to provide further details about the project, indicating it was still in the works.
Adding new wet-lab space, including for startup incubator firms as well intermediate-stage companies that graduate from an incubator, was a key recommendation in a bioscience growth plan released early this year ahead of the 2019 legislative session.
There is a need for more lab space because bioscience incubator facilities that already exist in the state, including in Farmington, are largely fully occupied.
The bioscience strategic plan was drafted by a working group of higher-ed and industry players, led by David Scheer, a bioscience entrepreneur tapped by Gov. Ned Lamont. The plan also called for a recruiting campaign to draw more venture capital investment to the state, higher caps on research and development tax credits, and new policies to spur industry-university collaboration.
The plan’s authors booked a few victories during the recent legislative session, including a phase-out of the state’s capital base tax and tax breaks for venture capital income.
Lehman said the plan is very much alive, as the state brainstorms ways it can help spur additional bioscience density in New Haven and Farmington.
He expects pieces of the bioscience plan to be included in the state’s overall economic-development strategy, a document that’s currently in the works and is expected to be released next year.
However, Lehman cautioned Wednesday that DECD has adopted a more cautious approach to incentivizing company expansions and relocations.
“We’ve borrowed a lot of money over the past 10 years,” he said.
Bioscience has been one of the largest benefactors, receiving more than $1 billion since 2011.
That includes a $293 million package to lure Jackson Labs to build its genomic research facility at UConn Health in Farmington — the balance of which was written off four years ahead of schedule after Jax reached its hiring targets — as well a series of major construction and capital projects, mostly at UConn Health, under the Bioscience Connecticut initiative, which wrapped its final project earlier this year.
There will be more borrowing to come, but it will be targeted at the state’s strongest sectors, and incentives won’t be given up front like they have been in the past.
“We have limited resources, we’re going to be very targeted,” Lehman said.
