Reports

New York City’s life sciences industry has experienced steady growth over the past decade in response to strategic investments by the public and private sectors. As a result, New York is well on its way to becoming a world-class hub for life sciences and is on pace to maintain its top-three spot in life sciences venture capital dollars raised in the U.S. — up from eleventh just ten years ago.

Jobs and investment in New York’s life sciences industry reached record highs during 2020 and will contribute meaningfully to the city’s economic recovery from COVID-19. As an early investor in commercial life sciences, the Partnership Fund has worked closely with state and city government to promote New York’s evolution from a center of basic scientific research to a leader in commercial life sciences. In 2016, the state and city committed $1.2 billion to support development of the industry, providing a catalyst for development of wet lab space for early and growth stage companies, as well as business accelerator and job training programs.

Partnership Fund for New York City: Twenty Years of Investing in a Stronger, More Inclusive New York outlines two decades of accomplishments by the $160 million civic fund that was established in 1997 and capitalized by corporate and individual contributions from the city’s business leaders. Highlights include job creation and launching significant new industry clusters in digital media, life sciences, fintech and other sectors of the innovation economy.

The report, done in conjunction with Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister (founding CEO of Biomedical Growth Strategies LLC) and KPMG, contrasts the strength of the city’s research institutions and top scientists with its relatively small number of start-up companies, venture capital investments and jobs in life sciences. It calls for public and private actions to develop the facilities and funding needed to capture the economic benefits of New York’s rich research and clinical assets. If commercial activity in Downstate New York was on par with its NIH funding, the region could see an additional 18,000–25,000 jobs and $2.2–3.1 billion of additional economic growth.