$9.5 billion impact powers the region

BLOOMINGTON, IN (June 16, 2022) – The Indiana Uplands region’s healthcare and life sciences sector has a $9.5 billion annual economic impact and employs more than 23,000 people in the eleven-county area¹, according to a new report. The study from TEConomy Partners, ESSENTIAL: The impact of healthcare and life sciences sector in the Indiana Uplands region, examined the influence of decades of investments in the region as well as how the sector provides benefits to their other industries such as manufacturing, technology and retail.

The sector has seen a rapid 18 percent job growth since 2015, well outpacing overall private sector growth of 2 percent. In addition, average yearly wages in the healthcare and life sciences for the Uplands region are nearly $63,000, $23,000 above their private sector counterparts.

“The Uplands region has one of the highest concentrations of life sciences jobs and gross regional product in the state. The Regional Opportunity Initiatives’ focus on advancing economic development in the region, and in particular, their work on talent development for the life sciences, has been very successful,” said Patty Martin, president and CEO, BioCrossroads.

The report discusses not only the economic measures of capital expenditures, wages and jobs, but also analyzes the non-traditional impacts such as access to healthcare and its influence on economic development.

Key information from the report also includes:

• Gross regional product for the life sciences and healthcare sector is $3.3 billion making it the number one economic driver for the region. Manufacturing contributes nearly the same amount, and retail provides $1.0 billion to the region.
• There are more than 30,000 jobs in manufacturing, while the life sciences and healthcare has over 23,000 jobs. Life sciences manufacturing accounts for one in four regional manufacturing jobs (7,814).
• Every $1 of all goods and services produced by the healthcare and life sciences sector, generates an additional $0.29 within the regional economy.
• More than $589 million in capital projects have been in process since 2020, supporting an additional 4,700 jobs.
• Indiana University-Bloomington accounts for a significant contribution to the state’s healthcare and life sciences innovation ecosystem:
  • In 2020, IU-Bloomington had $150 million in life sciences-related research and development expenditures
  • 23 percent of IU-Bloomington graduates are in a STEM-related field, which contribute to the sector’s talent needs.

“Our region is an important hub for medical device manufacturing, contract development and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, biologics and related products. Bloomington has long been identified as the #1 small metropolitan area in the country for medical technology manufacturing, a recognition of the unique role Cook Medical has played in seeding life sciences innovation in our region. Today, Baxter BioPharma Solutions and Catalent are both manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines and their companies have hired thousands of new employees and invested millions of dollars into the community. Boston Scientific located in Spencer continues to grow and advance deliberate strategies around workforce diversification. And, Cook Medical continues to be a critical player in the Uplands region as well as in Indiana’s overall life sciences sector,” said Tina Peterson, President & CEO, Regional Opportunity Initiatives, Inc. / President & CEO, Community Foundation of Bloomington & Monroe County.

The full report is available at https://biocrossroads.com/impact-of-healthcare-and-life-sciences-sector-in-indianas-upland-region/.

About BioCrossroads

BioCrossroads 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 invests capital and provides support to life sciences businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, 16 Tech, Indiana Health Information Exchange, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, BioCrossroadsLINX, OrthoWorx and Datalys Center), expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life science institutions, promotes science education and markets Indiana’s life sciences industry.

¹ For this report, Uplands is defined Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties.