Compared with neighboring Massachusetts, Rhode Island’s efforts to grow its life sciences sector are modest. But for the state, the goal is not so much to compete with more established and better-funded life sciences ecosystems but to learn from and eventually join them.
Toward that end, Rhode Island is well on its way, according to industry leaders who spoke at PBN’s Emerging Industries Summit on March 13.
Neil D. Steinberg, chair of the newly created R.I. Life Sciences Hub, likened Boston’s powerhouse life sciences industry to an Olympic champion. The Ocean State, he said, is “trying to qualify” for the competition.
Fair enough, but that doesn’t mean Rhode Island is the equivalent to the overmatched 1988 Jamaican bobsled team that won hearts but no medals.
The sector here has more than 5,700 jobs and hundreds of businesses, along with top universities and medical facilities. What the state lacks in support services and lab space, it is working to add.
That might not win Rhode Island any medals, but the state is in the game and eying more.