Across the country exists a growing need for advancements in life sciences, and Tennessee is pioneering this movement.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”Scott Wellman, General Manager, Puritan Medical Products” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Tennessee had the best combination of workforce and environment”[/perfectpullquote]
Tennessee’s life sciences sector includes four key industry segments: biosciences logistics and distribution; medical devices and equipment; drugs and pharmaceuticals; and research, testing and medical labs.
All grand divisions in the state have seen an influx of life sciences companies choosing to grow or move here in the last few years.
There is a myriad of reasons for this trend. One being that Tennessee has a strong life sciences presence due to our universities, as well as being home to HCA, the largest health system in the U.S., which has headquarters in Nashville. Another asset is Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in East Tennessee, which is the largest multiprogram science and energy research lab in the U.S. and at the forefront of world-class research in these fields.
TNECD plays an instrumental role in bringing these companies here. The department focuses on recruiting projects with family-wage jobs for Tennesseans over projects that may have a higher job number but lower wages. TNECD also desires to partner with companies that will be here long term due to the low cost to do business in a central location.