Greater Charlotte
Consistently rated among the best places to live and do business in the U.S., Charlotte is a metropolitan city with premier cultural and leisure activities, excellent public schools and a bustling international airport.
Biotechnology companies recognize that Charlotte is a great place to do business. The Greater Charlotte region is home to more than two dozen bioscience companies and 366 bio-asset companies. It also has the state’s largest concentration of biomedical device companies.
World-Class Research Centers Set the Stage for Innovation
One of the reasons why biotechnology thrives here is the wealth of research opportunities present, access to global markets and funding.
- Charlotte Research Institute (CRI), located at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, brings industry, government and academic partners together to advance and commercialize biotechnology discovery in bioinformatics and genomics and biomedical engineering. Partners can also leverage the world-class intellectual cache and facilities in optics, nanotechnology and precision metrology. CRI serves as the portal for industry collaborations and entrepreneurial support for one of the nation's most prolific producers of spin-out companies.
- Talented workforce. In addition to being ranked among the top most-educated cities in the nation, an independent site consultant vetted the labor shed in the region for a large bio-manufacturing project and passed the region with flying colors.
- North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) is a center for the combination of agricultural, health and nutritional research. The Campus hosts hundreds of researchers from eight North Carolina universities, industry partners, not-for-profit institutions, a service center offering the hemisphere's best collection of discovery tools and an abundance of laboratory and office space. The conglomerate of world-renowned scientists are making advances at the unique intersection of plant science, health and nutrition. NCRC represents a private/public partnership between benefactor David H. Murdock and the state of North Carolina.
- James G. Cannon Research Center provides a central research facility where scientists, academicians and clinical experts anchor translational research into metabolic, hepatic, neuromuscular and other disorders. The center is part of the Carolinas HealthCare System, the nation’s third-largest non-profit healthcare system.
Early Industry Awareness Anticipates Future Employment Needs
Through the commitment of local science leaders, including former U.S. Congressman and Governor Jim Martin and their work with the Charlotte Area Science Network (CASN), the public and students are instilled with a great appreciation for biotechnology. Organizations that participate in CASN promote “science for life” by supporting primary and secondary schools, educating the general public and involving science and technology organizations with education initiatives.
In addition to the dozens of universities in the Greater Charlotte region, eight community colleges in the area participate in the BioNetwork program. It trains and retrains more than 100,000 people each year.
- Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC) has a new 62,000-square-foot biotechnology-education facility at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) where hundreds of students are enrolled in their biotechnology programs.
- Gaston College is home of the BioEd Center, which develops innovative ways to deliver more accessible biotech training throughout the state.
