INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., October 6, 2010 — BioCrossroads today announced the receipt of an award of a one-year $1.4 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant will fund a range of charitable, educational and scientific activities through 2011 as BioCrossroads continues to build upon Indiana’s signature strengths in the life sciences.
“From the very first days of BioCrossroads, Lilly Endowment’s significant investment in this initiative has been a principal driver for success within our life sciences community,” said D. Craig Brater, MD, Chairman of the Board of BioCrossroads. “Thanks to the Endowment’s critical and continuing support, BioCrossroads has been able to take the state’s life sciences assets to a new level and put Indiana on the map as home to a major, regional innovation cluster. This timely and generous support from the Endowment ensures that BioCrossroads will continue, and accelerate, our important work.”
Grants from Lilly Endowment to support the educational, charitable and scientific mission of the BioCrossroads initiative go to the CICP Foundation, which also supports other eligible activities of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership. These grants, which now total over $24 million, have enabled BioCrossroads to identify, organize and launch several successful public-private-university collaborations based upon specific opportunities, including: BioCrossroadsLINX, Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, Indiana Health Information Exchange, and Indiana I-STEM (Indiana Science, Technology and Mathematics) Resource Network.
Last September, Lilly Endowment gave a $7 million grant to the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for the formation of the Warsaw community-based OrthoWorx initiative, which is advancing and supporting growth and innovation within the region’s uniquely concentrated, globally significant orthopedics device sector. BioCrossroads was instrumental in the initial design of the OrthoWorx organization and remains actively engaged in its development.
“BioCrossroads is instrumental in the development of the human capital needed for the life sciences cluster to flourish in Indiana,” said N. Clay Robbins, president of Lilly Endowment. “We are pleased to help them continue their strategic efforts.”
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
The Endowment was founded in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the wishes of the founders, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. The Lilly family’s foremost priority was to help the people of their city and state build a better life, and the Endowment remains primarily committed to Indianapolis and Indiana.
About BioCrossroads
BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance and invest in the life sciences, a public-private collaboration that supports the region’s existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new business development. BioCrossroads provides money and support to life sciences businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Health Information Exchange, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, BioCrossroadsLINX, and Datalys Center), expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life science institutions, promotes science education and markets Indiana’s life sciences industry.
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