Patrick's biotech plan sends bold message
IT WAS A moment of show-stopping -- well, conference-captivating -- political theater when Governor Deval Patrick visited the BIO International Convention Tuesday to propose a $1 billion commitment to encourage the life sciences in Massachusetts.
So what was his message to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose state has made a major public commitment to stem-call research, I asked as the governor departed the dais.
My hope was for something punchy. Maybe an Austrian-accented, "See you later, Terminator. We're the biotech germinator." Or just a pithy: "Hasta luego, San Diego."
Which wasn't quite what I got.
"Oh, my buddy?" replied Patrick of his California counterpart. "Well, tell Arnold, we're going to play, too. That's my message."
OK, OK, so maybe Mr. Mild Mannered Manager wouldn't ace a screen test for the role of tough-talking gubernatorial action hero ready for a bicoastal biotech brawl.
But in the best day to date in his governorship, Patrick was truly impressive, unveiling a 10-year plan that is smart, targeted, and attention-grabbing.
State grants will finance underfunded research or proposals that have narrowly missed National Institutes of Health funding, while helping fill a void left by the Bush administration's myopic stem-cell restrictions; tax credits will be used to lure life science companies here; millions for research equipment and facilities will boost the University of Massachusetts while aiding joint research efforts and spreading economic activity around the state; and bridge grants will push new products into manufacturing and to market.
But the scientifically sexy centerpiece is Patrick's plan to establish a stem-cell bank at the UMass Medical School -- and the administration's success in getting area universities and hospitals, including MIT and Harvard, Mass. General, Brigham and Women's, Beth Israel Deaconess, and Children's Hospital, to participate.
"They pulled together some very important institutions that don't normally collaborate in this kind of way," notes Paul Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
Standing with Patrick at the event were Senate President Therese Murray, who warmly embraced the initiative, and House Speaker Sal DiMasi (keep your friends close and the strong-willed speaker closer), who stressed that he and the governor were on the same page on the issue. Industry and civic leaders were enthusiastic, UMass President Jack Wilson effusive.
In short, it was a day when, under Patrick's leadership, the state put its best face forward.
What's more, hours after most reporters had left, our state CEO was still walking the convention center, greeting biotech execs and trying to entice out-of-staters here.
Certainly the Commonwealth had its sales team out in force. According to Robert Coughlin, undersecretary of business development, Massachusetts deployed some 40 people to cover the confab, touting all the Bay State has to offer. That effort, he said Wednesday, has generated more than 900 leads to follow up on.
And a good thing that is, because you couldn't wander among the myriad displays in the convention hall without realizing how incredibly competitive biotechnology has become. Seemingly every corner of the globe was making its case. Five other governors, plus several counterparts from other countries, also attended, reports Jim Rooney, the convention center chief.
At Ireland's booth, I had a chance to inquire about the stunning turnaround that has transformed the Emerald Isle from business backwater to lucky-charmed economy.
One key, the green team told me, was the golden glitter of a corporate tax enticingly low by European Union standards. In that light, DiMasi may have actually done Patrick a favor by putting the brakes on the governor's plan to close so-called business tax loopholes, a move that would increase the state's business tax burden.
Meanwhile, we could improve the state's business climate by reforming our high, growth-dampening unemployment insurance costs, which come in part because our program is among the most generous in the nation. With even France tentatively acknowledging the importance of competitiveness concerns, must Massachusetts remain a purblind polity where policy makers are cowed by the unions?
So there's still plenty of work to do.
Still, with Tuesday's bold move, Patrick sent a clear message: Under his leadership Massachusetts will take on all comers in the fight to stay a biotech mecca.
Even if he wasn't quite ready to call Arnold out.
Correction: In Tuesday's column, I listed Oregon as a state that has two female US senators. It is Washington.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 
