Stimulus Watch

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Nationally recognized as a Top Ten incubator and recipient of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) award for Excellence in Tech-Led economic development, CET is instrumental to the St. Louis region’s biomedical excellence and has been a major contributor to the growth of the St. Louis and Missouri economies.

CET’s first building inaugurated the first life science incubator in Missouri, spurring the creation of the CORTEX Research District and development and revitalization of the City of St. Louis. CET remains the only facility serving biotech, medical instrument and device, as well as non-medical engineering and advanced information technology companies.

CET currently encompasses 92,000 square feet of incubator/accelerator space in two rehabbed buildings in the City of St. Louis. It is strategically located along St. Louis’s research corridor between the region’s premier medical schools, renowned hospitals and a comprehensive cancer center. CET provides specialized facilities, knowledgeable support services, entrepreneur training programs, and access to capital needed to establish and develop next generation medical and advanced technology companies.

The economic impact figures recently released from the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association (RCGA) show CET’s decade-long impact on the region to be $1.5 billion, with 722 direct jobs and over 2,000 indirect jobs created, which has generated $50 million in state and local taxes. CET is the only entity where supporters contribute directly to both accelerating cures for devastating diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s AND stimulating economic growth.

Points in Favor

St. Louis already receives more than $500M per year in NIH funding - primarily through Wash U and SLU - and has more than 10,000 folks working in the Pharma industry. Despite this, St. Louis has historically lagged behind not only world-class biotech centers - such as Boston & San Franciso - but also second/third tier areas - such as Kalamazoo, Indianapolis, etc. - in spawning biotech start-ups from this huge research investment by the U.S. government. While established Pharma/Biotech such as Pfizer, Covidien, Centocor, etc. are major area employers, job growth with these companies is stagnant at best. Start-ups, however, are much more productive at generating job growth. The "CET" has been one of the positive forces in trying to correct St. Louis' failure to capitalize on its biomedical leadership with start-ups and the jobs they bring. It has been limited in this effort by the limited amount of lab space it has been able to offer. This CBDG project addresses that shortage and is a highly efficient way to leverage St. Louis' hundreds of millions of research funding into hundreds of jobs - and even more for the future.

Points Against