Arizona has been focused on growing its bioscience industry for more than two decades
The Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program offers funding, professional support, connections, and networking opportunities to Arizona early stage bioscience companies.
Each year, the Flinn Foundation Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program offers funding, professional support, connections, and networking opportunities to Arizona early stage bioscience companies. It is part of a more than two-decade initiative, launched in 2002 when the Flinn Foundation unveiled Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, the long-term strategic plan to advance Arizona’s bioscience sector.
One of the four strategies of the Roadmap was to create a critical mass of bioscience companies in Arizona. In 2014, the Roadmap was updated, with the first goal being to “form a hub of bioscience entrepreneurs and new enterprises across Arizona.”
To help address this need, the Flinn Foundation launched the Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program to foster entrepreneurship and help bioscience founders develop their early-stage companies into successful and sustainable businesses in Arizona.
Since 2014, the Flinn Foundation has selected a total of 66 Arizona bioscience companies to participate in the program through a competitive process. The 11 program cohorts have received nearly $2 million in funding support through the foundation’s nonprofit partners.
This year, the program is piloting a new format as it awaits an update of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap that will extend beyond 2025.
Ten finalist companies will be selected for interviews, of which two will be awarded up to $100,000 each in project costs, professional development, and consulting services administered through Arizona Bioindustry Association. The remaining eight companies may elect to work with the Flinn Foundation to leverage the benefits of its network and advisors to advance their companies’ progress over the 12-month period.
In addition, the 10 companies will be offered exclusive opportunities to engage with the state’s bioscience, academic, and policy leaders, including one-year memberships to Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, and invited to convenings with fellow bioscience entrepreneurs.
The submission deadline for the 2025 Bioscience Entrepreneurship Program is December 16, 2024.
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