Members and Friends,
From our Virginia Bio family to yours, Happy Holidays! If you haven’t already been inundated with holiday music, get ready! Virginia Bio is thankful for all of its great members and the support we have received from you and our ecosystem partners over this past year. We look forward to continuing to serve you as we grow Virginia’s ecosystem, stimulating entrepreneurship, ground-breaking research, and productive partnerships. We have several exciting updates, so let’s get to it!
Connecting Our Ecosystem with Virginia Bio-Connect: An Update. This past April, Virginia Bio and its partners began execution of a GO Virginia competitive grant funding Virginia Bio-Connect, a $3.2 million Statewide industry cluster scale-up initiative. The project, directed by the Virginia Biotechnology Association, is a multi-regional collaboration designed to increase connectivity and awareness of the existing programs, resources, and communities in the Commonwealth that support the life sciences industry. Virginia Bio-Connect will be a central hub for the life science community to find relevant resources across the state, including commercialization and entrepreneurship programs, funding mechanisms, accelerators, job boards, internship programs, and core research equipment facilities. The program will provide the pathway for businesses to find the support, expertise, and workforce needed to grow and prosper in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
We are happy to update you about the Virginia Bio-Connect progress to connect our ecosystem! Here is what we have accomplished thus far:
- Launched our STEM2VA Statewide Internship Program to facilitate the hiring of 100 interns for Summer 2022 (more information below)
- We hired two Life Science Mentors in partnership with Virginia’s Small Business Development Centers’ Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program for our entrepreneurial companies.
- Initiated design of the Virginia Bio-Connect resource portal, launching January 2022
- Partnered with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership on the production of their Life Sciences Brochure
- In October, Co-Sponsored George Mason University’s Accelerate 2022 investor conference and pitch competition and lead a Biotechnology Innovation panel there with BrightSpec CEO Walter Colsman and Head of JLABS@Washington D.C. Sally Allain.
More work is ahead of us as we march toward our March 2023 grant end date. Please be on the lookout for future announcements regarding available resources and programming, and continue to provide your support and advice about what more we should do.
Students and Employers—Sign Up NOW for Summer 2022 Life Science Internships! On November 1, Virginia Bio-Connect launched the STEM2VA life science internship program. STEM2VA will allow interested life science majors to participate in an intense and exciting eight-week Summer 2022 internship opportunity with the industry. Internship candidates are scholars interested in becoming future scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs at companies working in the following areas: research and development; pharmaceuticals; diagnostics; digital health and medical devices. Interns will receive a summer stipend of $4200 ($2100 grant-funded with employer match). Currently enrolled undergraduates and graduate students are eligible, as are Winter 2021 and Spring 2022 graduates. Interns can select their regional geographic preference, and companies from those regions will have an opportunity to interview and select interns. The student application period ends on January 31, 2022; internship decision notices will be sent to applicants by March 31, 2022. Internship applicants, please visit here for the application and additional student information. Virginia Bio Member Companies, please visit here for registration and additional employer information. For other questions, please get in touch with Briana Hunter, hunter.briana@vabio.org.
JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is Back! The Virginia Bio team is preparing to see you (and thousands of others!) at the 40th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. Our invitation-only Virginia Reception with investors will be held on Sunday, January 9, at the InterContinental Hotel-Mark Hopkins on Nob Hill. The reception is our opportunity to answer the question, “Why Virginia?” and explain why Virginia ranked #1 on CNBC as the best state to do business. Beyond the accommodating business climate, our Virginia businesses, economic developers, research entities, and investors will be on hand to tangibly show Virginia’s life sciences strengths. As an exclusive member benefit, we will host free meeting spaces on January 10, 11, and 12 on a first-come, first-served basis for discussions with potential investors and collaborators. For sponsorship and other information, please contact Frank Wilton, VP for Membership and Development, at wilton.frank@vabio.org. First time at JP Morgan? Please check out our informational video for those considering attending here!
Upcoming Events:
Please click here to see the most current information and registration links for all of Virginia Bio’s and our industry’s events. Here is a summary of selected upcoming events, as of this writing:
- December 9, 2021: *Hybrid* Virginia Bio Annual Meeting of the Membership and Commercialization Luncheon: State and Federal Policy Update. In-person attendance and lunch at the Virginia Bio+Tech Park. Come and hear our experts speak on what the Virginia life science industry should expect from the November elections, what opportunities for our companies exist under the Build Back Better Act, and other policy questions and issues.
- January 9-10, 2022: JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, San Francisco, CA.
- March 23, 2022: Virginia Catalyst Celebration Conference, Richmond, VA (Reach out to Suzanne Zeta for more information)
- April 28, 2022: THRiVE: Virginia’s Bioscience Conference, Roanoke, VA. We are excited to bring our statewide conference to the Hotel Rooanoke for a full day of information and networking! Stay tuned for more information.
Your Ideas. Virginia Bio wants to hear from you! Contact us at questions@vabio.org with your ideas, comments, suggestions and advice regarding how Virginia Bio can best support you and our biotechnology ecosystem.
Please stay safe and let us know how we can help you. Thank you for all that you do to make Virginia’s life science ecosystem stronger!
John