Arizona’s health innovation community generated $38.54 billion in economic impact in 2021 and has set a goal double that impact by 2033. AZAdvances with its focus on workforce development and supporting the growth of Arizona life science companies is a key component of this growth strategy.
Combatting the “Who Knew” Effect
Too often, when sharing details of the amazing things happening in Arizona’s health innovation community with people outside our community, we hear “wow, who knew.” In 2023, as AZBio celebrated 20 years of impacting Arizona’s life science sector, members of our community embraced the goal of doubling by 2033 and put on the pin that they picked up at AZBio events.
When wearing the pin, they show their support for making life better in our state a
View the AZBio Prospectus and explore how you can support the growth of Arizona’s Health Innovation Sector.
nd when people ask, “what is the pin for” it begins the conversation about our shared goal and how they are personally working to discover, develop and deliver treatments and cures.
Since 2023, over 1,000 people have put on the pin.
Convening Our Community
Arizona organizations work together to bring our community together to make connections and share ideas. Examples include weekly Venture Cafes on the PBC, GPEC’s Health Innovation Council, educational events hosted by our universities and hospitals, and AZBio Events including Arizona Bioscience Week (AZBW) each fall.
With more than seven events over 5 days, AZBW convenes the community, introduces more people to the amazing work being done in our state, and, since 2017, has helped to raise awareness and support for the life changing work happening in Arizona.
AZBio’s work and events like these are only possible thanks to the financial support of our community. Check out the AZBio Prospectus to explore opportunities for your company to become an AZBio Supporter.
AZAdvances
Born out of a 3-year best practices study and a 4-year EDA grant project, the AZAdvances Initiative was created by AZBio inside the Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship Foundation (OTEF) an Arizona-based 501c3 public charity.
AZAdvances was designed to address the challenges faced in growing Arizona’s early stage life science companies. Arizona is 14th in the nation by population and, based on BIO/TEConomy 2021 data, ranked 14th in the nation for life science companies. Yet, Arizona ranked 22nd in life science employment and 22nd in economic impact. The data also reflected that Arizona ranked 25th nationally for venture capital investments. If Arizona was going to achieve is goal of Doubling economic impact by 2033, programs needed to by in place to support Arizona early stage companies so that more were deemed investable. Programs to help achieve this is where AZAdvances is focused.
- Mentoring and support of Arizona-based early stage companies;
- Mission Related Investments that help the companies achieve key milestones that improve their investment profile; and
- Workforce programs so that as they companies grow, the workers are ready with the talents need to join the growing companies.
In 2022, the State of Arizona created the Arizona Health Innovation Trust Fund (AHIT) to address these needs in the future. Until AHIT is fully funded, OTEF relies on its philanthropic donors to fund the AZAdvances programs.
Ponte Cura
Supporting AZAdvances is an ongoing process. The level of donations received each year determines how much support AZAdvances can provide.
Ponte Cura: The Bridge to Cures is the annual fundraiser to support these important efforts. It will take a combination of sponsorships and donations to reach our 2024 goal of $200,000.
Now is a great time to make a donation to a fundraising team or start building YOUR own team.