North Carolina's Biomanufacturing Training Initiative

I like the North Carolina Biomanufacturing training initiative, which is experiencing some funding difficulties, but the concept is a very good one.

The plan has three elements:

* A Biomanufacturing Training & Education Center at N.C. State, a manufacturing plant that would include state-of-the-art equipment to train community college and university students. The center could cost $38 million to $40 million to build, according to preliminary estimates.

* A Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Training Enterprise at N.C. Central, housed in a wing to be added to the university's planned science complex, would provide students lab training and education. NCCU would eventually develop new undergraduate and graduate degree programs at the institute. Facility costs are estimated at $23 million to $27 million.

* A "BioNetwork" at the N.C. Community College System that would offer training for workers at five or six community colleges.

University, community college and biotechnology industry leaders said Thursday that they have solidified their plan for a statewide training network for biomanufacturing jobs. Now they must find money to make it happen.

N.C. Central University would take on a larger role in the initiative, though the main bioprocessing plant still would be built at N.C. State University's Centennial Campus, according to the latest proposal by a consortium of industry and education leaders.

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