New Coalition Brings Life Science Education, Workforce Training and Entrepreneurship to the National Stage
Forty-one state bioscience organizations, including Virginia Bio have formed the Coalition of State Bioscience Institutes (CSBI) to ensure America’s leadership in bioscience innovation by delivering industry-led life science education, workforce development and entrepreneurship programs through a nationally coordinated effort.
“CSBI is leveraging resources across the United States and speaking with a united voice for the biotech industry on life science education, workforce development and entrepreneurship,” said CSBI acting co-chair, Lance Hartford, executive director MassBioEd. “We focus on programs that the life science industry is uniquely positioned to deliver and can be replicated across many states and scaled-up nationally.”
Working together since December 2011, CSBI serves as an umbrella for standard practice sharing joint fundraising and national initiatives for life science (STEM) education (student education, career exploration and teacher professional development); workforce development (workforce training, incumbent worker professional development, dislocated worker training); and entrepreneurship. CSBI provides the opportunity for state bioscience organizations to share knowledge with the goal of improving bioscience education and innovation, while maximizing industry support. With its focus in these areas, the CSBI complements the life science policy work of the Council of State Bioscience Associations (CSBA), formed by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in 2002.
The Biotechnology Institute serves as CSBI’s administrative organization. By partnering, CSBI members bring unprecedented access to programs, facilitate national communication, and connect an extensive network of industry professionals. CSBI is supported with funding provided by Human Genome Sciences.
