HJNO Jul/Aug 2021

Jeanette R. Weiland Vice President of Bio, Innovation, & Special Projects New Orleans Business Alliance incubators can include and not be limited to providing wet labs and a physical en- vironment for startups to grow, assisting with business structuring and operating plans, offering fundraising services such as coaching for pitch competitions and in- troductions to investors, sponsoring pitch competitions, and so forth. When startups are successful and enter ensuing growth phases (and outgrow an incubator), it is the role of local econom- ic developers to maintain a relationship with these companies and help ensure that these job-creating entities have access to local facilities that can house their ex- panding operations. Economic developers also engage in the advocacy for a bio busi- ness-friendly environment that can help offer financial incentives to get companies to stay or relocate here and grow. Luckily for New Orleans, the Univer- sity of New Orleans recently provided space on its campus to house a couple of NOBIC biotech graduate companies, as the city does not have in its favor a biotech facility ready and waiting to host companies requiring wet labs and other controlled areas of operation. At least, not yet. Homegrown firms may be more like- ly to have an affinity for the place in which they were created. Therefore, in my opinion, it is in the best interest of the city and state to spend time catering to homegrown and existing small busi- nesses opposed to spending all energy and resources on attracting out-of-state companies that do not have an intrin- sic interest in being in a place like New Orleans or Louisiana. The reality for all Louisiana economic developers is that there is a plethora of very competitive cities across our country from which to choose, and it is important to identify lo- cal strengths and weaknesses so that we can spend our time and resources in an informed and strategic manner. n ited to, protecting the intellectual property created by faculty members or employ- ees, developing licensing agreements and sometimes assisting in forming startup companies around the patented technol- ogy. (Additional New Orleans academic institutions employ individuals dedicated to vetting these opportunities as well and address them internally and/or employ outside service providers to complete the process.) After the tech transfer process, one po- tential next step is to build and run the newly-formed company within an incu- bator. In New Orleans, newborn biotech companies can do so at NOBIC. It is often a biotech incubator’s role to provide a phys- ical home with affordable and necessary biotech amenities, plus provide further commercialization services to startups that stem from local institutions as well as offer the same to startups from other plac- es. Typical services provided by biotech HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS  I  JUL / AUG 2021 55