News ItemIn the Know: May 2019

May 10, 2019 –

NMBio: IN THE KNOW – MAY

I’ll start this month’s newsletter with a confession and an apology. This was originally intended to be my April newsletter. However, time passes quickly when preparing tax returns, recruiting new members and making strategic connections for existing members. So, it’s now a combined April-May newsletter.

I’ll follow my opening confession with a question: Are you taking advantage of one of our most popular member benefits? It is our array of valuable cost savings programs and purchasing discounts featuring steeply discounted pricing from more than a dozen industry-leading vendors that are part of the BIO Business Solutions preferred providers program — https://bbs.bio.org/content/new-mexico-biotechnology-biomedical-association-nmbio. In addition, NMBio has recruited and created its own list of talented vendors and service providers. In addition to offering competitive pricing, they provide the knowledge, critical skills and expertise to help you overcome hurdles and grow your business: https://www.nmbio.org/strategic-partners/

I’ll provide an example of a firm in each category. First up, UPS from the BIO Business Solutions program:
NMBio members can save up to 70% off UPS Next Day Air® services and up to 65% off UPS Worldwide International services.

Additional Member Benefits:

Special pricing on UPS’ Proactive Response
UPS Capital Flexible Parcel Insurance
UPS Temperature True® Packaging
UPS Store Business Services discounts

From NMBio’s Strategic Partner program:

MEDFAS (Manufacturers Economic Development Financing Associates) offers personal and online training opportunities to help companies and economic development professionals understand and apply for Tax Advantage Financing. TAF is a broad term that also includes tax-exempt loans made by a bank or private lender to a private enterprise to finance the costs of capital projects. Tax-exempt financing is used for the purpose of investing in new facilities, production lines, machinery and equipment, and technological advancements that help bolster productivity and profit. Low-cost capital access remains the primary strength of tax-exempt financing. Across the United States there are billions of dollars available every year for manufacturers to use to fund new projects and expansion plans. MEDFAS negotiates an average savings of 31% on interest expenses for its clients.

For the vast majority of members, BBS services provide savings that can easily exceed 10 to 20 times the cost of an annual membership. In addition, as many as 50 percent of the BBS firms and our Strategic Partners provide the association with a small royalty based on your purchases. This helps keep our association dues low and also provides us with a revenue stream that’s used to improve our program offerings and events. Board members and I are looking forward to the day when these royalties can generate enough revenue to support hiring additional staff.

While I’m booking my flight and hotel to attend this year’s BIO International Convention in Philadelphia in early June, I’ve begun laying the groundwork for next year’s event that will be held in San Diego, June 8-11, 2020. We’re once again planning to host a New Mexico Pavilion. In addition to inviting member firms to participate and market their research, products and services in our exhibit booth, we’ll be encouraging Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Alicia Keyes, Secretary of Economic Development, to join us as well as members from our Congressional delegation and the state House and Senate leaders for an event that will attract 17,000 attendees from more than 70 countries. We will be recommending several of the state’s key bioscience leaders (Pebble Labs Richard Sayre is a prime example) with breakthrough research and technologies to participate as speakers at the convention. Finally, members interested in participating in the pavilion may be eligible for state grants that will cover the cost of their registration as well as participating in the pavilion (the grants don’t cover travel or hotel costs). If interested, contact me for additional details.

Finally, we will be asked to commit financially for exhibit space for the San Diego pavilion at the conference in Philadelphia. If we want an exceptional piece of real estate to take advantage of traffic flow, we’ll have to sign a contact and commit to a down payment at the event. If interested in being an exhibitor, please contact me before May 25.

Financing Your Business Through An Angel Deal, 11:30 am, May 29, Lobo Rainforest

Is your company a good match to receive an Angel investment? What do Angels look for before writing a check? Do you have a solid management team, a scalable product or service that produces a large amount of revenue in a short time frame, the ability to accept advice and coaching? The long-time leader of the New Mexico Angels ’s will answer these questions and any others that you toss his way during our combination luncheon presentation/workshop.

REGISTER »

SBA Announces National SBIR Road Tour to Engage Small Businesses Working on High-Tech, High-Impact Ideas

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will launch a 16-stop road tour connecting entrepreneurs working on advanced technology to the country’s largest source of early stage funding – the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Also known as America’s Seed Fund, the SBIR/STTR programs focus on next generation research & development (R&D) and is led by the SBA with 11 participating federal agencies. The Southwest Tour will run from August 12-16, with stops in Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Boulder,

The SBIR Road Tour plays an important role in increasing engagement with entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country and building out greater networks to support the creation of small businesses focusing on high-impact research. Each SBIR Road Tour stop will be hosted by a local organization involved in supporting entrepreneurs in next generation R&D. Program managers from the participating federal agencies will conduct one-on-one meetings with attendees, take part in targeted panels, discuss technology areas, and share insights into how the agencies make funding decisions.

The SBIR/STTR programs provide over $3 billion in early stage funding to small businesses each year in a wide variety of technology areas such as unmanned systems, advanced materials, health, cybersecurity and defense. The SBIR/STTR programs execute over 4,000 new awards annually, which allow innovators to advance new technologies and have contributed to the creation of thousands of jobs. Small technology firms, innovators, scientists or researchers seeking more information on the SBIR Road Tour, including a schedule of stops and participating agencies should visit: www.sbirroadtour.com. For more information about SBIR/STTR programs, please visit www.sbir.gov.

SBA Revises Policy Directives for SBIR & STTR Programs

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has statutory authority to establish federal Government-wide policies to implement the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. SBA recently issued a significantly revised final SBIR/STTR Policy Directive, which took effect on May 2. The link will take you to the major changes implemented in the revised policy directive. Read more »

FDA Launches Redesigned Website

After three years in the works, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched a redesigned, more customer-centric website at FDA.gov.

The new FDA website, which the agency said receives nearly five million visitors each month, will provide the public with health and safety information that is easier to locate and navigate. Approximately 30,000 pages to 40,000 files make up the redesigned FDA.govsite.

In addition to helping the public make more informed decisions quickly, the site includes federal regulations, recall information, safety alerts and other regulatory actions.

The new and improved website provides more visuals and interactive content. It is also more mobile responsive, important because more than 50 percent of visitors to FDA.gov come from mobile devices. Additionally, the FDA is making necessary changes to make it easier to find content using third party search engines, according to an FDA spokesperson.

NIST Releases Findings on Increasing the Innovation Impacts of Federally Funded R&D

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology announced 15 key findings from a final version of a new “green paper” on maximizing U.S. innovation from government-funded research. Incorporating extensive feedback from industry, academic and government stakeholders, the NIST report describes options for enhancing how federally funded inventions move from the laboratory to the marketplace. Read More »

NMBio Sponsors Scholarship in Biomedical/Biotech Field

NMBio is offering a $1,000 Scholarship to be presented to a New Mexico high school senior graduating in Spring of 2019. The student receiving the scholarship must meet the following criteria:

1.) be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident with a green card
2.) be a legal New Mexico resident for a minimum of one year
3.) be graduating from an accredited public or private high school
4.) be accepted to a two- or four-year accredited New Mexico college, and
5.) plan to major as a full-time student in an area that will lead to a career in a biotechnology or biomedical field

For additional information and an application, please click on this link:

https://www.nmbio.org/wp-content/uploads/NMBio-Scholarship-Application.pdf

Report Highlights Brain Drain’s Impact on States

The states which retain and attract highly-educated adults stand to reap substantial economic benefits. At the same time, those that bleed much of their homegrown talent will see their economic fortunes decline if they fail to replace the leavers with highly-educated out-of-staters. Yet even if they do manage to offset their losses, these states are still losing a vital source of social capital.

New research from Congress’ Joint Economic Committee’s Social Capital Project finds that the migration of highly-educated adults toward dynamic states and major metropolitan areas is accentuating America’s geographic divisions. Using census data from 1940 to the present, the authors define “brain drain” as someone in the top third of the national education distribution who resides in a state other than their state of birth between the ages of 31 and 40. Their interactive, data-rich analysis finds that the states that are doing the best cluster around the Boston-Washington corridor and on the west coast, while states in the South and the Midwest/Great Lakes fare worse when it comes to attracting and retaining the highly educated. Texas and Arizona are the stars in the Southwest. Based on the majority of criteria, NM ranks in the top third of states. The authors also analyze changes in states and regions over time, as well as conclusions for what this means for social capital nationwide.

WEBINAR: The Race to Deliver CRISPR –Tuesday, May 14 8:00 a.m. MT

The gene-edited babies controversy got all the headlines, but there’s a lot more going on with the technology known as CRISPR. Join STAT senior science writer Sharon Begley and senior biotech writer Adam Feuerstein for a free webinar on all things CRISPR. They’ll get you up to speed on the latest science, introduce you to some preclinical work that hints at diseases CRISPR might one day treat, and update you on ongoing human trials. REGISTER NOW

Why University-Industry Partnerships Matter

Small businesses play an increasingly critical part in innovation and the health of the U.S. economy; the connections of universities with those businesses to promote their R&D activities can be extremely beneficial. This is the reason why most companies that are receiving SBIR support had at least one founder who previously served in the science/engineering academic sector. These companies often engage with universities (17%), faculty (27%), and graduate students (15%) to assist in their projects.

In a progressively composite and multifaceted research landscape, universities and industries can benefit from collaboration. For universities, there are several financial and nonfinancial motivations. For large research-intensive universities, industry-sponsored research acts as a vital component in the overall external funding mosaic. According to the most recent data from the National Science Foundation (NSF), universities in the United States increased $2.87billion of industry research funding in fiscal year 2008; this illustrated about 5.5% of all R&D expenses but close to 7% of external funding. Further, to effectively compete for federal grants in today’s highly competitive environment, universities are required to identify the relevance and significance of the proposed research as well as how industry will be engaged with the proposed project. Read full academic journal

New Strategic Partner: Human Resources Experience, LLC

We’re delighted to welcome Albuquerque-based Human Resources Experience, LLC (“HRE”) as our newest Strategic Partner. HRE is New Mexico’s premier proactive legal service provider for businesses. “We provide solutions to create exceptional workplaces through culture driven HR,” said Cristin Heyns-Bousliman, President and Chief People Officer. “We take a proactive approach to the legal services your business needs to succeed.” The focus of her practice is to create and support exceptional workplaces through proactive measures while minimizing the impact of inevitable litigation.

“The simplest way to avoid employment claims is by maintaining a positive, transparent, and compliance-based culture,” said Heyns-Bousliman, who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the UNM Anderson School of Management and her Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. “This starts with developing and implementing excellent policies and procedures as well as a framework for reporting violations,” she said. “It is perpetuated by an ongoing dialogue with all employees including clear expectations, a fair approach to performance opportunities, and mutual feedback.”
You can view her practice areas and estimated fees on HRE’S website: https://www.humanresourcesexperience.com/products-and-services/