(Editor's note: The presidents of U-M, MSU and WSU, along with incoming URC Executive Director Jeff Mason and AEG CEO Patrick Anderson will hold a news conference at 12:30 p.m. today (May 28) on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.)

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — Michigan’s University Research Corridor partners have helped the state become a national life sciences leader, a new report shows, even as Michigan lost a quarter of its manufacturing jobs.

The URC helped boost life sciences jobs 10.7 percent while their average wages jumped 29 percent, according to an analysis released Thursday. More than 79,062 Michigan residents now work in the state’s life sciences industry, the report found, with the average worker’s salary climbing from $64,602 in 1999 to $83,494 in 2006. The Life Sciences Corridor was launched in 1999.

“The tremendous growth of life sciences employment and the fact that the average wage exceeds $80,000 shows that Michigan is a powerhouse life sciences state,” said Patrick L. Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group LLC and a co-author of the report. “The growing wages in the life sciences industry prove that Michigan can leverage its research and knowledge into high-skill jobs of the future.

”From January 2006 through March 2009, state labor officials estimate, overall Michigan manufacturing employment fell by 26 percent. The state has lost 2,100 jobs since 2007 from cuts by pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc.

“Despite these losses, however, Michigan’s life sciences industry has shown signs of substantial growth and promise for continued expansion in the future,’’ the AEG report said. “The URC universities have stepped in to transform abandoned space into productive R&D and commercialization centers.’’

The report said that the URC invested more than $887 million in life sciences research in 2008, a 69 percent increase since 1999. Sixty percent of life sciences research dollars come into Michigan through federal grants, up from 54 percent a decade ago. The report, released at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference, also found:

• Salary growth. Between 1999 and 2006, the average life sciences salary grew 29 percent, nearly triple the state average rate of growth for all industries, to $83,494 and boosting total payrolls by 43 percent to $6.6 billion.
• Elite innovation cluster. Among seven leading innovation clusters nationwide the URC was topped by just two – North Carolina’s Research Triangle and three Silicon Valley research universities – in percentage of research spending devoted to life sciences.
• National leader in jobs and payrolls. The life sciences industry now accounts for 2.1 percent of the jobs in Michigan and 4.4 percent of total Michigan payrolls, both a greater percentage in Michigan than the United States as a whole.
• Biological leader. About 75 percent of life sciences jobs are in biological fields including medical product manufacturing, chemical preparation or research and development. Another 18 percent are medical and seven percent are in an agricultural-related field.

“Throughout Michigan, the URC is advancing the life sciences with major investments in people, innovations and facilities,” said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. “At U-M, we are weeks away from taking ownership of the former Pfizer R&D property. MSU is reviving the former Pfizer laboratory in Holland, and Wayne State is investing in the state’s first stem cell commercialization lab. It is an exciting – and critical – time for establishing a leadership role in what is a potentially limitless sector of our economy.”

MSU President Lou Anna Simon noted MSU chemists John and Karen Frost raised $21 million in the first quarter for their young company, Draths Corp., which has hired several former Pfizer scientists who wanted to stay in the state after Pfizer closed several state operations.

Wayne State President Jay Noren said life sciences offers a host of potential growth opportunities, including the recent development of a new U-M-led consortium that would include the URC partners and, potentially, researchers from Oakland University, UM -Dearborn and Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

The URC, an alliance of MSU, U-M and WSU, was organized by the URC presidents to bring the universities together to leverage their collective assets and encourage collaboration with business, government and communities to help accelerate innovation and economic growth. Together, they conduct more than $1.3 billion worth of research per year, 94 percent of the academic R&D conducted in Michigan.

“The half-billion dollars in federal funding the URC universities bring to Michigan alone demonstrates the financial benefits of maintaining the world-class reputation of Michigan’s research universities,’’ Anderson said.

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.