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New CBRE report ranks Worcester 15th highest US market for life sciences research talent

Worcester, MA (July 19, 2022) – Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI) announced today that a recent report from CBRE titled Life Sciences Research Talent 2022 ranked Worcester the 15th best market in the US for life sciences research talent. The report attributes the success of the top 25 major metro areas to their proximity to highly educated talent and significant concentration of life sciences research. The report specifically highlights Worcester’s proximity to Boston/Cambridge, which ranked first.

“Massachusetts is lucky to be home to multiple world class biotech cities. Worcester and Cambridge complement each other to make Massachusetts THE destination for life sciences,” said Jon Weaver, President and CEO of MBI, a Worcester-based biotech incubator dedicated to promoting and fostering the growth of start-up biomedical companies in Central Massachusetts. “Worcester gives emerging companies access to talented researchers and professionals from 13 colleges and universities and the community is dedicated to continuing to build the future of the workforce pipeline in unique and innovative ways.”

Last month, the Baker-Polito Administration awarded $500,000 in Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly Workforce Success Grants for Expanded Training Capacity & Employment Program Performance to Quinsigamond Community College’s (QCC) Healthcare and Workforce Development Center. The funding will support its Biomanufacturing Technician Onramp Program which prepares students from QCC’s Foreign Born Adults program for careers at AbbVie in a 10-week certificate program. QCC’s Biomanufacturing Technician Onramp Program was the first recipient of MBI’s Increasing Diversity in STEM Workforce Challenge Grants, which challenges its academic and industry partners to collaborate on solving workforce gaps. This initiative is intended to remove future roadblocks that could prevent biotech companies in Central Mass from hiring talented workers in the region.

“The momentum continues to build in Worcester and the Central Massachusetts region in the life sciences sector,” said Timothy Murray, President and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. “The CBRE Report confirms what many in this growing sector already know. Worcester is a life sciences, biotech and bio manufacturing hot spot that continues to punch above its weight. Very few communities in the nation have the assets that Worcester does to ensure the continued growth of this critical industry.”

According to the CBRE report, US graduates in biological and biomedical sciences totaled more than 163,000 in 2020, doubling the number of graduates in those fields just 15 years ago, but experts predict that finding life sciences talent may prove difficult in the future as the life, physical and social science occupations had the second lowest unemployment rate of all US occupations in April 2022 at 0.6%.

“We know that workforce is a potential barrier to future success for our companies, so we are working today to break down that barrier for tomorrow,” said Weaver. “This report from CBRE is reassuring that we are on the right track to continuing to build on the success of the biotech cluster in Worcester.”

About Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives

MBI is the longest running life sciences incubator in the Commonwealth and the only economic development non-profit in Worcester solely dedicated to promoting and fostering the growth of start-up biomedical companies in Central Massachusetts. MBI’s mission is to help companies bring lifesaving products to patients, create jobs, and promote economic development in Central MA and throughout the Commonwealth. It is estimated that since 2000, MBI has assisted over 171 companies, created over 1,025 jobs, and raised nearly $1,000,000,000.