INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Oct. 31, 2017 – BioCrossroads today announced a two-year grant of $2.9 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to the CICP Foundation for the continued support of BioCrossroads’ charitable, educational and scientific activities.  As the oldest advanced industry sector initiative under the umbrella of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, BioCrossroads encourages the growth of the life sciences sector in Central Indiana and across the state.

“2017 marks BioCrossroads’ 15-year anniversary.  BioCrossroads was set up to be a catalyst for the life sciences and pursue opportunities that would benefit and bolster the sector; and to collaborate with academia, university and philanthropy partners,” said David L. Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads.  “Collaboration remains at the heart of what we do, and we are grateful to Lilly Endowment for enabling us to continue this significant and transformative work.”

Grants from the Endowment in support of BioCrossroads go to the CICP Foundation, which also supports other charitable, educational and scientific activities of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.  Through such philanthropic funding, BioCrossroads has developed an impressive list of initiatives to advance the state’s life sciences, including the Indiana Health Information Exchange, OrthoWorx, AgriNovus Indiana and the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute.

In addition, BioCrossroads plays a pivotal role in university collaborations such as I-STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Network, the Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute and other academic engagements.

“BioCrossroads has an impressive record of serving as a catalyst for growth within Indiana’s life sciences sector,” said Ace Yakey, the Endowment’s vice president for community development. “The strategic and collaborative efforts of BioCrossroads are critical to help Indiana attract and retain the talented people we need for this industry to thrive across the state.”

Indianapolis’s influence as a successful life sciences center was recently highlighted in a Financial Times piece by Brookings Institution’s Bruce Katz.  Katz, an internationally recognized expert in metropolitan regions as the principal drivers of 21st-century growth, has written extensively on the role that intentionally organized public-private-philanthropic-university collaborations must play in identifying, structuring and sustaining key initiatives to advance a region’s best prospects for economic success.  To illustrate this point, Katz finds that the Indianapolis metropolitan region, through the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and the BioCrossroads initiative, offers a leading example of a community using networked “governance structures and private and civic funds to grow a world- class life sciences economy.”

About BioCrossroads

BioCrossroads (www.biocrossroads.com) is Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance and invest in the life sciences, a public-private collaboration that supports the region’s existing research and corporate strengths while encouraging new business development.  BioCrossroads provides money and support to life sciences businesses, launches new life sciences enterprises (Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, Indiana Health Information Exchange, Fairbanks Institute for Healthy Communities, BioCrossroadsLINX, OrthoWorx and Datalys Center), expands collaboration and partnerships among Indiana’s life science institutions, promotes science education and markets Indiana’s life sciences industry.

About Lilly Endowment

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a national private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family — J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli — through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.