Dr. Michael Feldman is a man with a vision for Utah’s life science community. As life science executive-in-residence for the Utah Technology Council’s (UTC) life science mission, known as BIOVision, Feldman is aiming to answer the question: What are we trying to be as a life science community in the next 10, 15, 20 years? As leader of BIOVision, Feldman’s goal is to leverage Utah’s strengths to build the state’s life science industry and spark significant economic growth in the field.

Feldman’s position was created from cooperation efforts among the UTC, Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) Initiative, and the Department of Workforce Services (DWS). With UTC, USTAR and DWS working toward a common purpose, BIOVision’s first priority is to align the goals of industry, academia and government to create an economic initiative through which Utah’s life science community can grow companies, increase its economic impact, create jobs, increase wages and generate more revenue.

Enhancing the Vision

Feldman brings this BIOVision to a field that already exhibits innovation, vibrancy and growth. Utah’s life science core competencies began developing as early as the 1950s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Utah was called “bionic valley” because of its innovation in medical devices such as developmental organs and orthopedics.

Today, Utah excels in the main areas of bioengineering, biotechnology, natural products and vascular access, as well as in the fields of medical devices, personalized medicine, genomics, genetics, regenerative medicine, therapeutics, nutraceuticals and advanced nutrition. The state’s storied success has attracted growing attention from the venture capital world, and BIOVision looks to give Utah a further edge by supporting innovation efforts.

BIOVision also incorporates the top-tier research universities in Utah: the University of Utah, with its Nobel laureate, Dr. Mario Capecchi, in molecular genetics, and its cardiology nutrition program; Utah State University and its advanced nutrition research; and UVU and BYU, both with active nutrition research programs. These universities have played influential roles in the industry; in fact, the University of Utah was ranked No. 1 in the country, on par with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in spinning out innovative companies, more than half of which are bioengineering technology or life sciences technologies. USTAR also plays a major part in the industry’s success, funding grass-roots research with a major focus on bioengineering and life sciences.

Igniting Teamwork

To better leverage the state’s existing strengths and resources, BIOVision will attempt to align academic research and industrial development plans to work in tandem. This will allow Utah’s life science industry leaders to better understand the interests and work of researchers, and to know what innovations are forthcoming. It also envisions researchers designing experiments that help industries to grow.

Under Feldman’s leadership, BIOVision will also coordinate efforts with the state’s government leaders. As state leaders better understand the activities of the life science sector, they can better understand how those assets can deliver more jobs, more wages and more revenue for the state. BIOVision works toward accelerating the cluster model of Governor Herbert’s overall economic development plan, which focuses on development clusters that will lead to job creation and wealth for the state.

“I think there are three legs to the stool: government has to create the environment, academia needs to provide the innovation, and industry needs to create the incentives and economic opportunities that drive the process,” says Feldman. And Feldman’s recent addition as life science executive-in-residence with UTC helps establish the third leg on that stool, while also creating a way to actively promote growth of the life science community using the substantial traction that UTC already offers.

From Sparks to Flames

UTC’s primary area of expertise and focus has been high-tech industries and companies. Feldman’s role with UTC looks to strengthen UTC’s expertise in the life science area and lend its reach and resources to the life science community.

Feldman’s industry-based savvy proves essential to create alignment with academia and government. As the CEO of BioMicro Systems, a biotechnology manufacturing company that makes consumables and instrumentation used in genomics research, he not only helped BioMicro Systems grow, but also became very well networked within Utah’s life science community. It was there that he really began to notice the need to leverage the existing strengths in the industry toward a common goal.

To establish BIOVision’s priorities, Feldman and UTC asked Utah’s life science leaders for their input. In analyzing survey feedback, Feldman sees acceptance of this plan for greater coordination, and a sense of hope. Of course there is skepticism that this could possibly be one more failed effort at coordination, but the life science community is committed to see growth and the economic benefits alignment will bring. Today the first phase of BIOVision is well underway, recognizing strengths and assets and identifying gaps that will impede progress.

The next step for BIOVision is providing greater access to early-stage funding, greater sharing of expertise and content with networking activities. BIOVision also aims to answer the following questions: Do we want to be one of the top five major communities for medical devices in the country by 2020? How can we leverage all of our unique genomics and personalized medicine assets to take a leadership position in the country if not the world in personalized medicine? How can we leverage our research and natural products capabilities to become a center of excellence for natural products and advanced nutrition?

Though it’s relatively young, BIOVision is on its way to meeting its end-goal: to make Utah a life science leader in the Intermountain Region, nationally and internationally.