HJNO Jan/Feb 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS  I  JAN / FEB 2021 55 creating businesses that evolve and grow into job-creating and life-changing com- panies. The State of Louisiana committed to supporting this effort by building the Louisiana Cancer Research Center and, more recently, by creating the New Or- leans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC), an incubator facility designed to support this commercialization process. NOBIC attracts startups from anywhere in the region (or the world), to relocate to New Orleans and build their businesses. Building upon this research theme, one way to observe progress in furthering re- search commercialization is to note suc- cess rates in obtaining federal research grants. During 2015-2019 (2020 data will not be complete until September 2021), Louisiana showed a notable increase in federal grant awards through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I and II programs. The high- ly competitive SBIR and STTR programs are designed to fund R&D efforts into Jeanette R. Weiland Vice President of Bio-Innovation & Special Projects New Orleans Business Alliance commercialized products or services. SBIR funding is available to commercial entities, and STTR funding requires col- laboration between commercial entities and research institutions. In today’s New Orleans bio environ- ment, the most pressing challenge is finding real estate for established biotech companies that require a combination of wet labs and administrative space. To ad- dress this need, NOLABA recently collab- orated with the University of New Orle- ans Foundation’s Research & Technology Park (RTP) to apply for a U.S. Economic Development Association (EDA) grant to fund the construction of biotech facili- ties. Regardless of the grant’s outcome, NOLABA and its partners will contin- ue similar applications over the coming months and years. Some people say that perception is reality, and “bio” is not exactly the first thought that comes to mind when folks hear the name “New Orleans”. NOLABA works with multiple external partners— in-state and beyond—on a regular basis to change this perception. For those of us who are intimately involved with the local industry, we are heartened by the prog- ress of companies like AxoSim, Chosen Diagnostics, InnoGenomics and Obata- la Sciences, and with innovative leaders like Ochsner Health’s iO, LCMC Health’s Children’s Hospital, Tulane Health Sys- tem’s work with the NFL, and the VAHos- pital. A lot of work remains, but in a sea- son where health and the economy have never been so interconnected, NOLABA embraces the challenge and knows that eventual collective success is assured. n Jeanette R. Weiland is the vice president of Bio- Innovation & Special Projects at the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA). Before joining NOLABA, she worked with Ochsner Health as a finance fellow and later as a financial operations manager. Prior to entering the healthcare finance field, she and her partners ran a private investment advisory practice in the DC area.Weiland graduated from LSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in International Trade and Finance and received both a Master of Arts in Arts Administration and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of New Orleans. $0 $1,000,000 $2,000,000 $3,000,000 $4,000,000 $5,000,000 $6,000,000 $7,000,000 $8,000,000 $9,000,000 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 SBIR STTR (Louisiana) Award Data Source: sbir.gov Award Count # Of Firms Award Amount