It’s difficult to understate the importance of the health care and life sciences sector in Indiana. With major, established players like Cook Group, Eli Lilly and Roche along with a cadre of start-up and scale-up companies in the field, Indiana has gotten not only a major economic boost but a healthy dose of positive press from the sector.

Indiana’s health care and life sciences industry, which includes biotechnology, has a $150 billion annual economic impact; directly employs one in every 10 jobs in the state (more than 383,000 people); and has a substantial presence in the corporate and university sectors, according to a new report.

The study from TEConomy Partners, Essential: The Impact of Health Care and Life Sciences Sector in Indiana, examined the influence of decades of investments in the state as well as how the sector provides benefits to Indiana’s other industries such as manufacturing, technology and retail.

Indiana is the second highest exporter of life sciences products in the U.S. – trailing only California – and has been for more than a decade. In 2020, more than $11.4 billion of products were exported from the state, representing more than $192,000 of output per worker, the highest amount ever recorded, according to the Indiana Business Research Center.

Indiana University and its Kelley School of Business, through its Indiana Life Sciences Collaboration Conference Series, are seeking to keep building on the momentum the state has going.

Curative technologies and Indiana’s status as an important player in their development and implementation will be discussed at the opening event of this year’s conference.

Hosted by the Kelley School’s Center for the Business of Life Sciences, the Nov. 18 conference in Indianapolis will examine recent advancements, such as the development of mRNA vaccines, radiopharmaceuticals and gene therapies, and Indiana’s role in those innovations.

For example, Indiana is the only state to provide all the major Covid-19 vaccines, and Indianapolis is becoming a hub for radiopharmaceutical research, which involves drugs containing radioactive isotopes that can be used to diagnose and treat disease.

“When we started this conference series 16 years ago, people didn’t really connect the dots to see how big an impact this sector has on Indiana, including its economy,” offers George Telthorst, director of the Center for the Business of Life Sciences. “We do this event as way to get people from Indiana – and the surrounding states – together to exchange ideas and connect. We think it’s done a lot to build on the momentum of the life sciences sector in the state and we hope to keep that going in an even bigger way.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic waning, the event is fully live again this year. With that, Telthorst says: “We’re trying to do more to raise the profile of the conference series. With life sciences playing such a major role in Indiana, there are a lot of important topics that will be dissected and discussions that will be spurred that could have a major impact on the state.”

Dan Peterson, vice president for industry and government affairs at Cook Group, one of the conference sponsors, states, “These conferences bring together a broad base of collaborative partners around timely, important topics that are relevant to the growth of the life sciences in Indiana and beyond.”

This kickoff event, with the theme, “Curative Technologies and Indiana’s Role in Advancing Them,” will take place at the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, located in the 16 Tech Innovation District in Indianapolis. Other upcoming events in the series will focus on the “Uniqueness of Health Care and Life Sciences Marketing” on Feb. 23 and “Digital Health – The Buzz and the Reality” on April 28.

“The work being done in this area in Indiana is exciting and continues our state’s legacy of making lives better for many while also helping to drive its economy,” Telthorst concludes. “We look forward to this and our other conferences, which facilitate helpful exchanges among key players in the industry, academia, government and economic development professionals leading to more meaningful results in the future.”

Anthony Schoettle is the director of communications for the Indiana Chamber. He started with the Chamber in 2021 after a long career in journalism. He’s won multiple awards for his storytelling ability on a wide range of business topics.