Talent

An innovation ecosystem cannot thrive and achieve its potential without an inclusive community of talented scientists, innovators, and seasoned entrepreneurs engaged in all aspects of discovery and commercialization. Through a variety of initiatives, BioSTL engages in developing and attracting diverse talent to help drive St. Louis’ 21st century economy.

Inclusion

BioSTL's diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy strengthens the region’s bioscience ecosystem by identifying high-potential, talent who identify as Black, Latinx, women, and foreign-born bioscience entrepreneurs and providing a systematic pathway for them to create viable STEM-enabled ventures. This is accomplished through increased awareness of entrepreneurship and support, program engagement, training, and access to resources, as well as the convening of the St. Louis Equity in Entrepreneurship Collective.

Fundamentals

Fundamentals is an entrepreneur development program managed by our BioGenerator Entrepreneur Support Team that supports early, could-be entrepreneurs in bioscience in St. Louis. The program provides a one-on-one, customized business learning experience, including entrepreneurial coaching and resources for company founders from academic and industry communities, at no cost.

Visit BioGenerator.org →

Inclusive Entrepreneur Development Program

The Inclusive Entrepreneurship Development Program (IEDP) provides ongoing coaching, mentorship and capital funding access to underrepresented community founders including but not limited to Black, Latinx, Foreign-Born and women entrepreneurs in high-growth and high revenue-generating industries of medicine, biotech, healthy foods & beverage, and natural product sectors. IEDP is ideal for early stage and established-in-market entrepreneurs who are encountering hurdles to a new venture.

Science Coach

Science Coach, a program of BioSTL, engages 6th-12th grade public/private/homeschooled students in the process of scientific inquiry so they can tackle the problems of today and tomorrow. The Science Coach program teaches students to choose questions of personal interest, create procedures to test hypotheses, arrive at answers with validity, and build confidence in solving real world problems. Schools pay their teachers to coach sports teams. Science Coach pays teams of teachers to coach students to create accomplished science fair projects.

Visit ScienceCoach.org →

STEMSTL

On behalf of the St. Louis region, BioSTL secured membership in, and technical support from, the national STEM Learning Systems Initiative. The locally-named STEMSTL is a collaborative consortium committed to equitable access to high-quality STEM learning for all students from birth through college and career. With a youth-centered focus and a commitment to transparency, information sharing, data-driven decision making, and continuous improvement, STEMSTL is advancing regional STEM collaboration toward a common vision and agenda, shared planning and measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, and continuous communication that deepens students’ engagement with STEM and prepares them to thrive in a globally connected, technology-driven world.

Visit StemSTL.org →

Pathways

Are you looking for a well-paid, meaningful career? A collaboration between the Building Illinois’ Bioeconomy (BIB) Consortium, BioSTL, and the St. Louis Community College highlights education and training programs that can lead to jobs in a growing biotech economy and focused on sustaining the environment. This collaboration has helped clarify pathways allowing you to access living-wage careers and options to progress along each pathway with stackable credentialing and earn-and-learn possibilities. Use the diagrams in the links below to see what level of education and training earns you the equivalent career and income.

Labor Market Analysis

BioSTL has completed the first comprehesive Labor Market Analysis for commercial bioscience in the St. Louis region, examining job demand and projecting what it will look like over the next 10 years in order to better prepare St. Louis and its workforce for jobs today and in the future.

Bioscience, comprised of plant, life, and medical sciences, are foundational to the St. Louis regional economy and its innovative capacity. These industries account for more than 19,000 payroll jobs – with average annual earnings at more than $116,000 – in 800 bioscience firms. The Analysis focuses on commercial biosciences and, notably, does not include employment generated by universities or hospitals where significant bioscience research does take place.

779

entrepreneurs coached

346

commercial opportunities evaluated

$53M

raised by Inclusion participants