Posted by Katharine Greene - email
NEW ALBANY, IN (WAVE) – A meeting was held in New Albany as hoosiers try to combat "brain drain." Hoosiers Work for Health is a group of business leaders who study the impact of life sciences on Indiana's economy. The group met with 9th district congressman Todd Young on Monday.
"We're in the process of raising money right now," David Kennedy, president of Ikotech said. "so we can put some additional people to work."Ikotech is a high tech southern Indiana company which specializes in purifying cells for transplants.
"Cells typically coming from bone marrow, or umbilical cord blood, or out of digestive tissue. Ikotech, like many other life science businesses requires capital from investors in order to grow," Kennedy said. "Ever since the economy pulled back in 2008, we've really seen the capital in the markets tighten up quite a bit"
Indiana is one of the more fortunate states, which has a venture capital tax credit. "Incentives investors put their money to work in early stage risky investments," Kennedy said.
It's a move that helps companies like Windstream Technologies, who try to encourage potential employees, to stay in the area instead of leaving, a term commonly referred to as the "brain-drain," he said.
"We're hopeful that we're going to see additional support in the capital market along those lines from Washington," Kennedy said.He and other business leaders called, Hoosiers Work for Health, formed a panel discussion to ensure this.
They invited Indiana congressman Todd Young to weigh in. "The way to free up more private capital is to create more certainty in our policy climate," Young said. "Right now, there is great uncertainty because we're spending so much, that no one knows the future tax rates, interest rates, and inflation are going to look like."
Lawmakers and Hoosiers Work for Health hope it will look like a land of opportunity, giving people a reason to stay in Indiana.
A new study shows more than 87,000 hoosier jobs are supported by the biopharmaceutical industry, which resulted in a $28 billion dollar contribution to the state's economy.
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