Deadline Jan. 27 for $75K Regional Development Grants

North Carolina-based non-profit organizations can help their communities become biotech business beneficiaries.

How? By pursuing up to $75,000 in grant funding from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center's Regional Development Grant program.

But a January 27 deadline is fast approaching.

We're well aware that money's hard to find for early-stage life-science economic-development initiatives. But because North Carolina has built its statewide biotech base during the past 25 years, that kind of investment has paid big dividends--in jobs, global recognition and money into state coffers.

That's why the January 27 deadline for the next round of Regional Development Grant preproposals might be worth targeting for your community.

Any North Carolina-based non-profit organization can apply, including institutions of higher education, chambers of commerce, and economic development organizations. Some previously successful applicants include:

The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, $50,000 for a regional inventory of bioscience assets

The University of North Carolina Wilmington, $33,730 to assess metro niche market demand for North Carolina mariculture products and another $66,842 to help set up a pilot-scale finfish hatchery to produce juvenile fish for the state's emerging commercial saltwater fish-farming industry, and to conduct an economic analysis of hatchery operations

Blue Ridge Food Ventures, of Candler, $74,000 to help establish a specialized production facility for use by medicinal herb companies and entrepreneurs in western North Carolina

Maybe your region needs funding to help with some strategic planning. Or maybe you need to hire someone to do an asset and market inventory. Maybe your community needs to build or improve infrastructure to support biotech start-ups.

Regional Development Grants--building regional and community collaborations that foster the growth of biotechnology companies, related industries, and their service providers.