In 2005, a task force comprised of community leaders in Lawrence-Douglas County (LDC) was created to identify economic development opportunities in the area. It concluded that leveraging and promoting University of Kansas (KU) life sciences research and commercialization was central to achieving this goal. Specifically, the task force recommended providing an infrastructure of professional talent, modern facilities, specialized equipment, and capital around targeted core competencies emerging at KU; in short, it identified the need for a wet lab incubator. Furthermore, contributions to the wet lab would be greatly leveraged through significant contributions from the Kansas Bioscience Authority.
For this reason, the LDCBA’s main objective for 2009 was to develop a wet lab incubator for the support of the life sciences industry in the LDC region for the betterment of the State and local community. The incubator (Bioscience & Technology Business Center at the University of Kansas or “BTBC”) will aid the LDCBA in achieving other secondary objectives including: (a) providing business development and commercialization programming and incentives for incubator facility companies; and (b) developing long-term destination facilities in LDC for incubator facility graduates. In order to achieve these objectives, the LDCBA has developed direct partnerships with KU, the City of Lawrence, Douglas County and the Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA), as well as indirect partnerships with organizations such as the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
The LDCBA is a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) organization. Funding for its operations comes from capital contributions from the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, and KU.
