WAMU Biotech Interview with Governor Martin O'Malley
July 1, 2008
Bill: We've been hearing a lot recently about how State and local governments have had to make budget cuts to cope with the struggling economy and rising fuel cots. Well, this morning we're going to talk about why one Governor is calling for his State to spend more money, specifically on Biosciences.
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley joins us by phone to discuss the details of his new Bio 2020 Initiative, which calls for a $1.1 billion investment in the biotech industry over the next ten years.
Good morning, Governor.
Governor O'Malley: Good morning, Bill. How are you?
Bill: I'm good. And you?
Governor O'Malley: I'm great. Thank you.
Bill: Okay. If you would, tell us briefly about this new plan.
Governor O'Malley: Sure. You know, Maryland has one of the best bioscience economies of any State in the country.
And don't believe a braggadocios Governor, the Milken Institute, which rates States based on investments and, you know, their people and their investments in bioscience and also the number of people employed there, recently moved Maryland from fourth in the country up to second, behind only Massachusetts. And actually ranking ahead of Massachusetts at number one, in terms of the percentage of professional and technical workers and also in terms of what we invest in the skills and education of our people.
Over the last year our rate of job creation in Maryland has been four times that of the nation and that's due, in part, to the fact that we have powerhouse institutions like NIH and Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland, which attract and generate a tremendous amount of talented people and innovation in healing and life sciences.
Bill: Well, Governor, this week budget analysts there in Annapolis said the State might be looking at a budget hole of about $200 million and maybe $500 million by the year 2010. This proposal would be the largest per capita investment in the biosciences made by any State at such a time when the State is struggling to bring in some revenue that it needs.
Why should we invest so much in biotechnology?
Governor O'Malley: Well, the national -- you know, the national economic downturn is something that I believe we'll come through more quickly than other States, primarily because we protect our priorities, we invest in the talents and the skills of our people.
And if you look at these investments over the next ten years, what we're talking about here is ramping up in some instances things that we are already doing, the biotech tax credit being one of them. And also, capital investments that we need to make in these institutions that give us one of the strongest economies in the country.
So, you know, the budget estimates will continue to come in. You know, people are paid to look at revenue estimates and, yes, in a very down -- in a struggling economy, those things are softer than we'd like them to be. We made $50 million in cuts a couple of weeks ago and we have another $40 million that we'll probably have to make in the next couple of months.
But we are determined to continue to invest in our future and to continue to bolster our greatest competitive strengths, which in this corridor is our science and security related jobs.
I mean, look at the fact that there are forty to sixty thousand new jobs coming to Maryland because of the base realignment, so a lot of those are highly trained and highly skilled jobs.
This is our future and we need to build upon it.
Bill: You've been doing some traveling to promote the industry, Israel, San Diego, other places. What's come out of these trips in relation to bioscience?
Governor O'Malley: Well, we made a number of announcements when -- during the trip to the Bio Conference in Israel. There are probably right now upwards of about 36 Israeli owned companies that have set up their American headquarters in Maryland. In fact, Teva recently purchased -- you know, made a big purchase in Maryland of Human Genome Sciences= spin-out company for $400 million based in Montgomery County.
In San Diego, part of the purpose in going out there was to make sure that, you know, we promoted the tremendous strengths and advantages we have. And the workforce that we have in Maryland is one of those things. You know, they're -- smart people can live wherever they choose. And because of our quality of life here, because of our education system, because of our higher ed., this is a place where companies know they can get those sort of big brain, talented people to fuel their company's innovation and creativity.
So we'll continue to promote this.
You know, it's interesting, you know, the global economy -- as that reality continues to make itself known here in our State. I mean, if you look at some of the big purchases -- Medimmune, the sixth largest biotech company globally, was purchased for $15 billion by a company from the United Kingdom. A German company established its U.S. headquarters in Maryland in 2001 and purchased Digene for $800 million. So this is very much a global economy and we need to promote our competitive strengths and the tremendous assets that we have to compete and to win and to attract new investments from around the world for more jobs in Maryland.
Bill: You mentioned Massachusetts. But what other States are competing for these dollars?
Governor O'Malley: Well, virtually every State would like to claim that they're a biotech and life science center. I mean, when I was at the Bio Conference in Israel, among the other people that were represented there -- I mean, there was a delegation from Akron, Ohio, I believe there was a booth from Georgia out there.
Maryland is a leader in this, but the competition is growing. This is an area of the economy that every Governor would love to be able to say is something that is located in their State.
I once listened to an advisor as he was talking, an economic development advisor, as he was lecturing Governors. And he said to them, Look, everybody would like to be the life science or biotech center of our country, but unless you have the ability to create these sort of $4 billion assets, don't try it.
Well, fortunately, in our State we have NIH, in our State we have Johns Hopkins and other terrific institutions, including Fort Deitrick, Aberdeen Proving Ground and others, that give us a leg up because of our location and proximity to the nation's capitol and the investments our Federal Government has been making in research development and the life sciences.
Bill: Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, thank you very much for joining us.
Governor O’Malley: Thank you, Bill.
