Piedmont Triad

Savvy entrepreneurs built the Piedmont Triad’s economy on furniture, textiles and tobacco. Today, that same spirit drives the new technology economy, from tiny-scale advances in nanobiotechnology to full-scale donor organs grown in a laboratory from a patient’s own cells.

Home to nearly 100 bioscience-related companies and close to 200 support companies, the region continues to attract international and national attention. Well-established companies like LabCorp, Novartis, Syngenta, Banner Pharmacaps and Cook Medical have thrived in the region. Emerging companies like Targacept, Tengion and TransTech power their rapid growth with the solid base of scientists and entrepreneurs.

Together, these large and small companies provide 9,500 jobs.

A Collaborative and Connected Community  

The well-connected Piedmont Triad community generates new ideas and supports the capacity to implement them. Opportunity abounds to join our innovative community, from networking and knowledge exchange groups to commercialization discussions with centers of innovation to our research park developments.

The Piedmont Triad boasts four highly engaged regional exchange groups that foster scientific information exchange, industry and academic partnerships and professional networking opportunities. Throughout the year, hundreds join the discussions started by The Entrepreneur Action Team, Life Science Entrepreneurs Roundtable, Triad Biotech Alliance and Triad Drug Discovery Discussion Group.

The Center of Innovation for Nanobiotechnology (CoiN), launched in the Triad, is a consortium of statewide institutions that orchestrate expertise and resources to commercialize products and establish North Carolina as a leader for the field.

Biotechnology companies also greatly benefit from the extensive resources of two outstanding research parks. The parks provide much-needed research and office space, but also an entry to a collaborative research community   

• Piedmont Triad Research Park (PTRP) is a life science and information technology research community affiliated with Wake Forest University Health Sciences. There are over 50 organizations at PTRP with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) and Targacept as anchor tenants. WFIRM physicians and scientists were the first in the world to successfully implant a laboratory-grown organ into a human. Now, they are working to grow more than 22 different organs and tissues in the lab.
• Gateway University Park is a partnership between North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro that supports both research and economic development. It is home to the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering where unique collaborations in nanobiotechnology and nanomaterials further strengthen regional assets. Gateway University Research Park is also the Eastern Regional Headquarters of the USDA Research Center for Soil Science, one of only three in the United States.

Biotechnology Companies Encourage Local Training

Our Piedmont Triad community ensures training for the growing number of biotech jobs can take place close to home. A recent biomanufacturing labor study reinforced that the region’s education infrastructure and labor supply will support strong growth.

More than 95,000 students attend the 20 universities and colleges in the Piedmont Triad. These institutions produce 350 life-science graduates per year. Among these schools are the research universities N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University, which offer undergraduate and graduate training in the life sciences.

Associate’s degrees in biotechnology or applied sciences and certificate programs are offered at local community colleges, including Alamance Community College, the nation’s oldest biotechnology training program of its kind. Forsyth Technical Community College is home to the National Center for the Biotechnology Workforce, which represents the state’s biotechnology training programs on a federal level and tracks graduates’ progress.

Both are part of BioNetwork, the North Carolina Community College System’s workforce-training initiative for biotechnology. One of its primary centers is the BioNetwork Pharmaceutical Center, a collaborative venture between Forsyth Tech and Guilford Community College. The center improves the quality of learning, training and services in general pharmaceutical manufacturing at all N.C. community colleges.

Learn More

• Piedmont Triad Resources
• Advisory Committee
• Directions