"I'll just go back to 1984, where we had about four or five companies in the state. We're now at 840-plus," said NCBiotech President and CEO Doug Edgeton.
In total, the industry is directly responsible for more than 75,000 employees across North Carolina, with another 2,500 support companies.
"North Carolina is enjoying a 40-year overnight success," said Edgeton.
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Nationally recognized universities, training programs at community colleges, support from the state, and the ability to point to successful companies already here have all played a role in that success.
"In the last two years, we've added somewhere around $11 billion of investment into the state and about (5,000) or 6,000 jobs," Edgeton said.
The next batch of talent is also here, with 5,500 biological/biomedical degrees and 4,300 engineering degrees awarded from state institutions annually.
"The RTP area is one of the nation's big biotechnology hubs. And with that, it brings together a lot of expertise, both at the academic and university level, but also all of the companies that are in this space. That allows us to draw on talent from each other, but also the underlying resources and support structure, whether it's vendors, whether it's equipment suppliers, these sorts of things just make for very efficient development of technology," said Ben Griffin, the Vice President of Research and Development at Research Triangle Park-based BioMason.
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BioMason started in 2012 and opened a production facility in Denmark in 2022. The company operates in biomanufacturing, producing concrete through a process that includes breeding bacteria and combining them with natural materials.
"Concrete's responsible for upwards of 8% of the total CO2 emitted into the atmosphere every year. Any impact we can make on that will definitely have an impact on a global scale," said Griffin.
"We're doing it in a more sustainable way. So we have less energy, less CO2 emissions, significantly less - around a 60% reduction," noted CEO Camilo Restrepo.
Though the life sciences field is often associated with pharmaceuticals, Restrepo noted that it has far wider capabilities.
"The potential application of biotech is much wider than what the world has seen it before," Restrepo said.
"I've had the opportunity to work on a variety of topics within the broader field of industrial biotechnology. Everything from nutritional proteins, nutritional lipids, various bio-based chemicals, and even some of the ag space applications," added Griffin.
Restrepo noted that BioMason's products can also be created far more quickly than traditional concrete, allowing for faster turnaround times.
"We've already produced precast structures that are six feet high by two feet by one feet, which is a massive piece of precast with strengths up to 8,500 PSI compressive. Your everyday concrete is around 2,500 to 3,000 feet PSI," said Restrepo.
In 2023, BioMason won a contract from the US government to create a product for military applications and is in the process of shipping it off to undergo ballistics testing.
"The idea of a technology that can reduce environmental impact and make cement in a different way than traditional cement attracted me to come to BioMason," said Restrepo, who was named CEO in 2024.
Last week, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology chose North Carolina as its first stop as part of its national tour, meeting with lawmakers and industry leaders. The visit came following a Congressional report that recommended $15 billion of federal investments during the next five years.
Edgeton said he believes North Carolina is well-positioned to capitalize on industry growth.
"I think what's going to happen is we're going to see a lot more onshoring. We're going to see supply chain issues tightening around the U.S., and so we see opportunity in here for North Carolina. While on the research (and) innovation side, it may slow down for a little bit, hopefully that will catch right back up and that will translate into more companies," said Edgeton.