BioTrain being developed to boost Indiana’s life sciences talent pipeline
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Officials from Indiana’s life sciences and higher education sectors are working together to help build a talent pipeline in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
Heartland BioWorks, the consortium that was designated as a regional technology and innovation hub by the federal Economic Development Administration just over a year ago, has established BioTrain, a training institute designed to prepare talent for entry-level biomanufacturing roles.
BioTrain will be located at a soon-to-be constructed facility at the 16 Tech Innovation District near downtown Indianapolis.
Vince Wong, CEO of Indianapolis-based BioCrossroads, told Inside INdiana Business that the goal is to meet ever-growing demand in biomanufacturing.
“We estimate that we need about 2,400 to 3,700 employees in biopharma manufacturing every year for the next 10 years,” Wong said. “And in order for us to meet that demand, we need to develop an infrastructure of training to make sure that we have have a robust workforce to meet that.”
Heartland BioWorks, which is led by the Bloomington-based Applied Research Institute (ARI), received $51 million in funding from the CHIPS and Science Act in July; about $30 million of that is being earmarked for BioTrain, Wong said.
In partnership with BioCrossroads, Purdue University, and Ivy Tech Community College, among other stakeholders, the hub aims to address the specific skills and qualifications needed to tackle workforce shortages in the life sciences.
“In order for us to both meet the existing and projected demand of the employers in our community already but also to attract new companies to locate and stand up biopharma manufacturing infrastructure in Indiana, they have to have, not surprisingly, a workforce that they can be able to integrate and really reduce the time to competency after they’re hired,” Wong said.
Wong pointed to the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, which has the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, or BTEC, located at North Carolina State University, where BioTrain is taking inspiration.
“They have a large molecule pilot plant that provides hands-on training for students that then provides an on-the-job-ready workforce that then creates really a catalyzing enabler for both companies to locate but also expand and grow within the North Carolina area,” he said. “So we are modeling a little bit of our efforts on what’s been done there.”
Earlier this year, representatives from the BioTrain partners traveled to Dublin, Ireland to visit another training institute to gain more ideas for what BioTrain will become.
Wong noted that the recently-announced nonstop flight between Indianapolis and Dublin will help grow collaboration between two growing life sciences hubs.
“Ireland has become a real pharma manufacturing hub; eleven of the 12 biggest pharma companies in the world have infrastructure facilities in Ireland, and then [Eli Lilly and Co.] has two facilities in Ireland as well,” he said. “So just that connectivity between Indiana and Ireland to really facilitate the exchange of people and be able to travel back and forth in a seamless way just really reduces the friction to enable even further partnerships between the two regions.”
ARI says the two-story, 39,000-square-foot facility at 1200 Indiana Avenue will feature a combination of classroom and hands-on training on state-of-the art equipment that will allow participants to earn stackable credentials that will help them earn entry-level biomanufacturing roles that can feed into existing higher credentials for technician, engineer, or scientist positions.
Wong said participants could include college students, industry workers looking to upskill, as well as those coming from other industries.
“We’re looking strategically around the different training curriculum that are needed in different various [areas] to support the capabilities that are required in those different facilities, whether it be down in Bloomington, Indianapolis, Lebanon, Warsaw, etc. So we’re developing really a comprehensive statewide, you know, training infrastructure and plan to support the industry,” he said.
Heartland BioWorks aims to break ground on the new building at 16 Tech within the next six months and be operational within two years.