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Goal 1: Develop a roadmap and vision for building out key infrastructure to build a sustainable bioscience enterprise

Rationale: Building a robust bioscience enterprise requires the presence of key infrastructure that enables companies to compete in a global market for talent, investment, and revenue. Without these assets it will remain difficult for Kansas to attract and retain companies. 

Strategic Objective 1.1: Map statewide assets to identify areas of opportunity.

Strategic Objective 1.2: Develop a statewide campaign to advocate for stronger economic incentives and improved infrastructure to attract companies and talent to the state.

Goal 2: Improve the perception and visibility of the Kansas bioscience ecosystem within and beyond the state to better position us as a competitive and well-equipped place for bioscience investments, businesses, and careers.

Rationale:  Advancement of the scientific ecosystem cannot happen in isolation. For science to reach its full potential, it requires not only support from the scientific community but also the non-science community and policymakers.

Strategic Objective 2.1: Partner with economic development groups, member companies, and academic institutions to build a communication strategy that moves news, opportunities, and stories from within BioKansas to stakeholders within and outside of the state. 

Strategic Objective 2.2: Develop a large public facing event that highlights innovations originating from the state’s bioscience community to inform and inspire the state, provide broad reaching visibility for BioKansas, and engage non-members, policy makers, and sponsors. 

Strategic Objective 2.3: To build support for the biosciences among the public, we will implement a science outreach program that reaches across the state. This program will introduce high school students to how scientific concepts manifest within their daily experiences while also introducing them to a diverse group of scientists. Through this program we aim to improve the appreciation for scientific advances and perception of careers within the biosciences. 

Goal 3: Support an ecosystem for the growth and sustainability of companies and new technology emergence

Rationale: To fully maximize the creative and economic potential of the bioscience enterprise within the state, we must have greater investment in and support for new and existing companies as well as emerging technologies.

Strategic Objective 3.1: Publish an annual bioscience prospectus for investors that features companies looking for funding and investment, provides historical state data of interest to investors, and highlights technologies available for sale or licensing.  

Strategic Objective 3.2: Expand and increase member company’s access to business support services by partnering with resource providers to improve offerings so that they’re better able to support bioscience companies.

Goal 4: Increase access to and retention of diverse scientific talent assets

Rationale: Access to skilled scientific talent is needed for the biosciences to continue to grow and thrive across Kansas. Increasing available scientific talent requires a multifaceted approach that focuses on retaining talent, increasing visibility of existing talent, providing training to strengthen jobseeker and employee skills, and recruiting talent from outside the state.

Strategic Objective 4.1: Gain a deeper understanding of existing talent assets and barriers for retention within the state.

Strategic Objective 4.2: Implement annual scientific conference to recruit early career scientists to work and train.

Strategic Objective 4.3: Provide professional development training for students and scientific professionals. 

Strategic Objective 4.4: Develop a scientific talent database to aggregate competency data, record expertise and experience, and track training and career milestones to better understand available talent within the state and potential emerging needs.

Goal 5: Continue modernizing BioKansas’ operations

Rationale: Success in reaching the above-mentioned strategic objectives requires that BioKansas has a strong foundation upon which to build. Reevaluating our governance structure and related policies and processes will keep our organization agile and responsive. While our organization has many strengths, including a dedicated and knowledgeable staff, generous sponsors and members, and a strong committed membership base, we recognize the need to build upon our current strengths and capabilities.

Strategic Objective 5.1: Ensure the sustainability of operations by maximizing current revenue streams and examining ways to diversify revenue streams to enable responsiveness to changing economic and market factors.

Strategic Objective 5.2: Develop the governance structure to ensure continuity and longevity of the organization.