When scientists conducted the first successful genetic-engineering experiments in the 1970s, leaders in North Carolina paid attention. They realized that this emerging technology could bring substantial economic and societal benefits.
North Carolina seemed particularly well suited for biotechnology because its traditional industries - especially agriculture, food, forestry, and medicine - were among those that could benefit the most. North Carolina also had the necessary resources to develop biotechnology, including world-class research universities, an extensive community college system, abundant natural resources, a highly trained work force, and progressive state leadership.
The only question was: How could North Carolina best pursue biotechnology? A legislative study commission concluded that the state needed an organization dedicated exclusively to biotechnology development. With that imperative, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center was born in 1981 as the world's first government-sponsored biotechnology initiative. Initially a small agency within the Commerce Department, the Center was reconstituted in 1984 as ...
