This EDA investment funds the labcentral ignite career forge: making the biotech industry more diverse, equitable, and inclusive program, to make the biotech industry more diverse, equitable, and…

This $830,200 project grant from the Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Talent Challenge Program will fund the LabCentral Ignite Career Forge: Making the Biotech Industry More Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive program. The program aims to place over 200 people into entry-level roles with 100 employers in innovative research labs over three years. It will increase awareness of career opportunities in the biotech industry, help fill skills gaps hindering entry, remove bias from hiring, and place more diverse individuals into high-quality careers. In addition, the program seeks to change how talent is trained, connected, and advanced within the biopharma sector. The sub-awardee, Labcentral, will deliver the program services from February 15, 2022 to February 14, 2024 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This EDA investment funds the labcentral ignite career forge: making the biotech industry more diverse, equitable, and inclusive program, to make the biotech industry more diverse, equitable, and inclusive by increasing access for those who have long gone underserved and underrepresented in the industry and its innovation economy. The program will increase awareness of the opportunities for careers within the industry, help fill skills gaps that might be hindering entry, remove bias from the hiring process, and get more diverse individuals placed in high-quality career opportunities. In the next three years, the program aims to place over 200 people into entry level roles with 100 employers in innovative research labs. In addition, the program will change the ways in which talent is trained, connected, and advanced within the biopharma industry.