NEW YORK – The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub on Thursday said it is seeking $75 million from the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) to fund projects to spur personalized medicine in the state.
Late last year, a consortium of biotech-focused stakeholders, called the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, was designated one of the EDA's 31 Regional Technology and Innovations Hubs, a program that supports regional efforts to "supercharge" various technology ecosystems. The designation makes the Wisconsin group eligible to apply for implementation grants from the EDA.
The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub is led by BioForward Wisconsin, a nonprofit association of biotechnology organizations in the state. In addition to BioForward, the tech hub comprises more than a dozen businesses, educational institutions, and entrepreneurs.
The tech hub is seeking funds to support six interconnected projects, including an effort led by the Medical College of Wisconsin to deploy mobile cancer screening fleets in underserved communities to collect biomarker data and an effort led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison to establish a repository of health data for biopharmaceutical research.
Other projects include integrating theranostics into healthcare led by GE HealthCare; developing workforce training programs for the biohealth sector led by the Madison College and Milwaukee Area Technical College; providing entrepreneurs with support to get inventions to market led by BioForward; and a governance hub to track metrics and share lessons.
The consortium estimates that, combined, the projects will create more than 30,000 new jobs in Wisconsin over the next 10 years.