This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Jessica Martin Eckerly, CEO and co-founder of Forward BIOLABS.
She shares some highlights from the group’s first impact report, which details the Madison-based co-working space’s role in the local startup ecosystem. It provides fully equipped laboratories to help early-stage life science companies get started.
“And then we kind of envelope that lab in a community — making introductions, helping people with whatever problems or challenges that they’re having, and just really cultivating a collaborative, positive environment,” she said.
Martin Eckerly discusses some of her biggest takeaways from the past five years of running the co-working lab, underlining the importance of collaboration between the member companies and broader community support.
She also touches on the state’s biohealth tech hub effort, which involves Forward BIOLABS and other partners. The coalition, led by BioForward Wisconsin, recently submitted its application for Phase 2 funding through the tech hub program, which could bring millions of federal dollars to the state.
“The tech hub just lights everything on fire in such a good way, because it’s such a good way to really showcase everything Wisconsin has,” she said. “Manufacturing, supply chain, talent … It’s all here, and we know it, but the tech hub is the opportunity to show everybody else that we know we have immense value in biohealth.”
The podcast includes a look ahead to the future of Forward BIOLABS, with Martin Eckerly noting she wants to expand industry collaborations, add more space in the Madison location and establish another co-working lab in Milwaukee.
“It’s like a set of hidden gems in Milwaukee … There’s a lot of opportunity that’s completely untapped,” she said. “And I think to be able to put a site there and see what happens, I think will be really good for that community.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
