The Center of Innovation for Life Sciences – The Coolest Job in Georgia

When I first came into the position of Director of the Center of Innovation for Life Science last August, I made a long list of all the things I wanted to do to advance the life science industry in Georgia.  One of the tasks I planned was a “Listening Tour” of our life science industry.    I have been visiting with members in the Georgia Life Science Industry and listening to their perspectives about what they see in our industry and where they want to see changes. 

As I introduce myself as the new Director, I usually get this funny look from people that consists of knitting their brows and turning their heads to one side.  Then they ask me, “Now, what exactly is the Center of Innovation again?”  Some feel bad for not knowing.  One or two roll their eyes in having to understand yet another policy wonk’s raison d’être and why it’s worth investment of taxpayer dollars.  However, most think this position holds a lot of potential for the life science industry in GA.  Oddly enough, very few people seem to not care.  People are interested in the Centers of Innovation and why they exist.  Communicating why I have the coolest job in Georgia effectively and broadly to the maximum number of people has been the current challenge.

While I am taking on the campaign of advocating prosperity (http://coilsdirector.wordpress.com/), I think it would be helpful that people actually understand what it is that I do.  The Centers of Innovation is a network created by Governor Sonny Perdue in 2003 to advance our strategic industries in the state.  There are six Centers of Innovation spread across the state and are located in the heart of where the industry is most prominent.   We have Logistics down in Savannah, Aerospace in Eastman, Agriculture in Tifton, Energy in Atlanta, Manufacturing in Gainesville and finally Life Science in Augusta.   Each one of these centers is hosted at a Georgia university.  The COIs provide emerging and growth companies with connections to university and technical college research, commercialization resources, technology connections, matching grant funds, potential investor networks and government organization. Client companies are connected with industry-specific experts who are on the leading edge of technology and new ideas. A common goal across all of the centers is to cut red tape, streamline connections and seek technology solutions for members of their industries.   Within this framework the Centers create a pro-growth, innovative business environment for industries critical to Georgia’s expansion.  The COIs work together to help all Georgia companies become more successful. 

One of the questions you may have is:  What if I am an agriculture company and not in the health related field, but Stacy is the only COI director that I know.  The answer to the question is to contact Stacy at swilliams2@georgia.org or 706-829-4271 and I can introduce you to Bill Boone, our very wonderful Director of the COI for Agriculture – and if I have any other connections that would be useful to you, I would send to you to them as well.  The COIs exist to advance entrepreneurship and innovation in Georgia.  The fact that I focus on health related innovation does not mean that I would not apply my connections or knowledge base to assist a company outside of my area.

The Centers are undergoing a great deal of change this year.  For the first time, the Centers are being brought under auspices of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (listen to Commissioner Ken Stewart’s interview on www.startuplounge.com).  The Centers are starting to work more as a state-wide network instead of local centers, and thus it becomes more imperative that I reach out to the industry and get their perspectives.

Since Governor Perdue has asked us to reduce our spending by a healthy chunk, it seems irresponsible to spend hotel and gas money to go and visit all the people on my Listening Tour.  While I believe that we as an industry should start to prepare for an economic turnaround, I would not be a good steward of my budget if I did not look for other ways to reach out to our industry and communicate – thus, the blog.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting blogs on the who, what, where and why of the Center of Innovation for Life Science.  That way the next time you furrow your brow and turn your head to the side and ask yourself, “Now, what exactly is the Center of Innovation again?” – you’ll have a place to go to find out.   Alternatively you can contact Jonathan Goolsby (our awesome Marketing Outreach Director) and me http://lifesciences.georgiainnovation.org/staff if you have any immediate questions. 

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