After three years of operation, the city of Carlsbad, California’s life sciences incubator Bio, Tech and Beyond is reporting continued success and growth. Following its opening in the summer of 2013, the incubator helped launch six biotech startups in 2014. Today, 20 startups are currently operating and more than 40 full-time jobs have been created by the incubator.

“We tripled the number of companies and people working at the lab,” said Christina Vincent, economic development manager for Carlsbad. “This growth not only supports our region’s life sciences industry, but creates jobs and has produced millions in investment and local spending.”

The 21-bench laboratory is operated out of a 6,000-square-foot, city-owned building, which the city leases to the life sciences incubator. Local scientists can lease a dedicated 10-foot bench for approximately $1,000 per month, which is below market rate for similar facilities in the region. This monthly fee includes access to such resources as liquid nitrogen, sophisticated lab equipment, and a community of other community scientists and biotech startup entrepreneurs.

A video showcasing the life sciences incubator can be seen at Carlsbad’s YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/QHaqJC5QMrE), with relevant details at the economic development website (www.CarlsbadLifeInAction.com). This site also contains information on the city’s life sciences industry, including more than 150 life sciences companies based in Carlsbad with more than 6,500 biotech jobs and more than 900 patents issued since 2008.

As the video describes, ownership for all work conducted at the incubator belongs to the citizen scientists. Neither Bio, Tech and Beyond nor the city retain equity in their research and development. Some current startups have raised more than $1 million in venture capital, securing federal funding and awarded prestigious grants, financing, and prizes.

Twelve companies have grown out of the incubator and established their own space. In October 2015, Carlsbad and Thermo Fisher, Carlsbad’s largest life science company, hosted a Startup Showcase where startups operating in the incubator pitched their research in three minutes or less to the greater life sciences industry and members of the venture capital community.

One startup, GPB Scientific, announced having secured $3.2 million in funding for its cell separation technology that can be used to treat cancer patients. Another startup, Koliber Biosciences, described winning first place as “Best Startup” in the Blue Sky Bio Synthetic competition.

The incubator’s mission is to “make it easy to start a science company,” and they do this by making the tools and resources available for modern life science research. Bio, Tech and Beyond CEO Joseph Jackson explains that the incubator is geared to serve anyone from an academic researcher, to a retired pharma scientist working on a cure for an obscure disease, to a high school student who also wants to change the world via this “citizen science biotech garage.”

More information can be found at www.biotechnbeyond.com and www.CarlsbadLifeInAction.com