Collaboration is at the Nexus of Our Region’s Future

Collaboration. Innovation. Education. Much can be gained by working together for a common purpose and, in the Kansas City region, it’s in our blood. Our ability to be extremely effective at working together has been and will continue to be essential.

The historical differences between Kansas and Missouri date back to the early 1800s. The economic development of the regional identity and the socioeconomic profile of the Kansas City metropolitan area continue to be complicated by the state line that bisects our two states.

Despite these differences, we haven’t let that stop us from cultivating effective collaborations. As CEO of BioNexus KC, a life sciences non-profit organization focused on fostering collaboration among regional research institutions, I’m acutely aware of those groups and the efforts that have been most successful at pulling together diverse groups around the opportunity to work together for the greater good. When you look at the most successful hubs of life sciences in the country – Boston, San Francisco and San Diego, for example – they all have one thing in common: the willingness to come together and rally around a common purpose.

In our region, efforts to build upon the critical mass of life science companies have a checkered past. The Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) was established in 2005 in a bold initiative put forth by then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. While the KBA was an incredible initiative whose legacy continues to affect companies today, it ultimately was not able to weather political changes and was dissolved in 2016.

Likewise, on the other side of the state line, the Missouri Technology Corporation, a public-private partnership created by the state to promote entrepreneurship and the growth of emerging high-tech companies, has seen its funding cut dramatically over the past five years from a high of $17.8 million in 2015 to only $2.25 million in 2019.

Despite these setbacks, one unique effort that has continued to impact the region is the Johnson County Education Research Triangle (JCERT).

The idea behind JCERT, a 1/8-cent sales tax without an expiration date that could be used to fund education and research in Johnson County, was initially proposed in 2007 by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and the Johnson County Education Research Triangle Advisory Council. Voters approved the JCERT tax in November 2008, and it was assessed for the first time in April 2009.

This unique community/academic partnership between Johnson County, Kansas, Kansas State University, the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Clinical Research Center, generates more than $15 million annually. Divided evenly between the three education partners, JCERT funds result in numerous collaborations each year. Over JCERT’s first 10 years, the organizations had an impressive track record of funding successful initiatives that have built out the county’s research infrastructure and educational facilities. It’s estimated economic impact in total is on pace to reach more than $1.1 billion.

The JCERT initiative has been an impressive program and an example of what we can accomplish through collaboration, innovation and education.

At BioNexus KC, we are focused on growing life sciences for the Kansas City region. Nearly five years ago, we worked with Deloitte to undertake a strategic assessment of the regional life sciences, identifying four scientific areas of opportunity for our region, including animal health, healthcare IT/outcomes research, cancer research and care and neuroscience. Our assessment also identified four areas of cluster enhancement that needed to be addressed to support robust growth in the regional life sciences: workforce development, capital formation, messaging/marketing and collaboration.

JCERT tells a great story for our region and fits nicely into our regional plan for the life sciences. It’s a unique collaboration that’s well funded and working to strengthen the region’s talent and innovation pipelines.

It’s also played a key role in the accumulation of assets in several scientific areas of opportunity, including the University of Kansas Cancer Center (cancer), University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center (neuroscience), the Kansas State University Olathe campus (animal health) and the University of Kansas Edwards Campus (bioinformatics, statistics and analytics) and many more. Most importantly, in my opinion, JCERT demonstrates a willingness to come together to accomplish what each of these groups individually could not.

As we look ahead and think about the future of our region, collaboration is at the nexus of it all. The ability of our region to come together and create partnerships like JCERT will continue to be the essential ingredient of success in the life sciences.