ST. LOUIS -- In the late 1990s, Dr. William H. Danforth, chancellor emeritus of Washington University here, watched as a faculty member in the university's engineering department tried to market an innovative device -- a switch to speed transactions on the Internet -- that had emerged out of a research project.
"He tried for two years to get a company started in St. Louis and failed," said Dr. Danforth, the older brother of John C. Danforth, the former United States senator.
Giving up, the faculty member then moved to San Francisco, where he quickly found financial backers, office and research space and other kinds of assistance. In less than a year, the company was sold to Cisco Systems for $350 million.
That experience, Dr. Danforth said, convinced him that something needed to be done to reorient the business climate in his native city.
"We have great research here," he said, "but we have not done so well with the commercialization of that science."
In 2001, Dr. Danforth -- along with a number of other business and civic leaders -- founded the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, a nonprofit group. The goal was to jump-start St. Louis's nascent biotechnology industry by providing both new and mature companies with increased access to financing and up-to-date facilities.
Dr. Danforth, a cardiologist, says that St. Louis is better positioned than many cities to capitalize on biotech because of the number of universities and other institutions in the area. The city also has a number of research sites run by large agricultural and pharmaceutical companies, like Monsanto and Pfizer.
Over the last six years, the coalition has had some notable successes. On the financial side, the amount of biotech venture capital funds either invested or managed in St. Louis has climbed to $556 million.
"We've gone from virtually nothing to having structured investments and investors in place," said Robert T. Fraley, chief technology officer of Monsanto and a member of the coalition.
Probably the most visible outgrowth of this effort, however, is the Center of Research, Technology and Entrepreneurial Exchange. Known as Cortex, it is a 250-acre office and research district in a blighted neighborhood just west of downtown.
The district is controlled by a nonprofit consortium formed by Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis University, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the Missouri Botanical Garden, which are all within a few miles of the area. They all also conduct research in the area of life sciences.
"The idea has evolved," said John P. Dubinsky, a banker and civic leader who functions as the unpaid chairman of the consortium's board. "The original goal was to build the biotech industry in St. Louis by providing facilities for emerging companies. But as we got into it, we became intrigued with the idea of marrying that goal to a massive neighborhood redevelopment project." ...
| • | Keeping the Fruits of Research Close to Home in St. Louis
Square Feet The New York Times, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007 Byline: Robert Sharoff |
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