07 Mar WisBusiness: the Podcast with Jessica Martin Eckerly, Forward BIOLABS
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.