Grassroots work turns into NEOBio

The attitude of the press is critical to the success of any community-building venture, says Steve Goldberg, executive director of NEOBio. At last, he says, economic development people are beginning to realize how important the bioscences are to their work.

“We need to say what we’re doing [at NEOBio],” says Goldberg. “After a year, it’s working. Companies, associations, hospitals, government are buzzing about us. And we have to stop being secretive about funding, and so on.”

“When the press doesn’t support those efforts, it’s tough.”

How it started

It all started when Goldberg was networking for his consulting business and ran into someone in the industry who had an IT problem. Then, in the same room, same event, same hour, he saw another guy in the industry and asked him if he knew the other guy. “I grabbed him and dragged him across the room—turned out they had the same problem. I said, why don’t you guys collaborate?”

Goldberg had a similar conversation with Bob Schmidt of Cleveland Medical Devices. And then, he says, it became an unstoppable force. CWRU got on board and then, after 5 weeks of meetings, the concept took shape.

NEOBio is not meant to be a real organization, according to Goldberg. “It’s meant to facilitate a healthy, organic, self-sufficient bioscience community.” Starting with 6 member companies and 4 others interested, the group now has 37 companies after one year. Recruitment efforts took place at community events Goldberg organized. The group built a database using the social networking model—names on the list have been gathered organically rather than by purchasing any SIC-code-constructed lists. The list so far includes 222 pure bioscience companies and 74 related (consultants, providers, contract manufacturers). “It’s real It’s up-to-the-minute,” he says.

Bioscience impact in Ohio

Impact means money and jobs—taxes, payroll, head counts for employees in the industry. A 2001 Battelle study claimed there were 7100 people employed in the biosciences in Ohio—that’s half of all the jobs in the state of Ohio. “A lot’s been going on since 2001, says Goldberg. “We estimate half a billion dollars in payroll now. And when you add researchers and health care workers in our large institutions, that number explodes.”

Grant money is essential, says Goldberg, but he notes that only a small percentage of it actually goes to the people doing the jobs. NEOBio will soon be applying to the Civic Innovation Lab for a second round of funding. The organization started with funding in early 2004. “Now there are a lot of well-respected people in this area interested,” he says, but he’s a little concerned at the push to formalize the organization even further. “I reject the idea that we know what we are doing—that we can predict where we’ll be at any given moment, let alone 5 years from now.”

“Fred Rothstein, CEO of University Hospitals, says we are already doing clinical trial work here for the big companies,” says Goldberg. He says it would be even better be if those companies would set up satellite offices here and hire people in Cleveland—say, engineers to tinker with their projects.

“We have to start paying attention to the real successes in our area—when a company like Cleveland Medical Devices owns a building and employs 35 people, it’s worth recognizing.” Goldberg talks about the need to fight  constrictive legislation such as the law that now gives companies only 5 years of patent protection—instead of 17—in which to sell their creations at free market prices. “Bioscience companies pay for all the development time, all the field efforts, then they only have protection for a short while. It makes no sense.”

Goldberg says NEOBio’s goal is to connect everyone in this industry and not have them rely on any institution. Businesses should be taking an active part in the connecting part. “If you’re too busy running your business,” he says, “you’re not doing all you can to keep the environment friendly for its continued success.”

Building relationships helps people make the connections that facilitate combining areas of interest…sometimes resulting in coming up with a new blockbuster idea. Goldberg mentions Pittsburgh and Ann Arbor. “They’re paying attention,” he say. “Pittsburgh Life Science has a networking event once a quarter that some of us plan to attend.”

The structure of NEOBio has to be flexible, according to Goldberg. It must be able to “respond to serendipity.” He believes in the possibilities that arise “when you don’t do everything the old way.” It’s about helping companies do for themselves. “We are grassroots,” says Goldberg. “We don’t rely on professionals [non-profit people].”

Besides being director of NEOBio, Goldberg is also part of a bioscience consulting startup called Synventus. Check out http://www.neobio.org/ and http://www.synventus.com/