Tremendous opportunities exist for Research Triangle Region businesses and entrepreneurs to create new ventures related to biological agents and infectious diseases while addressing pressing public needs for health, safety and security.

The terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001 and resulting government funding for research and solutions (from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others) have stimulated new and targeted R&D in the field of biological agents and infectious diseases.

Infectious diseases also remain in the spotlight due to emerging and re-emerging infectious disease threats (e.g., HIV/AIDS, “mad cow” disease, West Nile virus, SARS).

Market opportunities abound across a broad spectrum of need for protecting the public health, environment, water supply and food sources (plant and animal) from natural or terrorist exposure to biological agents.

Successful solutions to such threats pull from many technology sectors in which the Research Triangle Region has or can establish leadership, including:

• World-class public and environmental health research organizations.
• Discovery and development of new infectious disease therapeutics.
• Agricultural disaster research, as exemplified by recent efforts to create a not-for-profit institute to catalyze the research, development and growth of this industry.
• Sensors and sensor webs, analytical instrumentation and data mining, which will be critical to monitoring, early detection of outbreaks and characterization of new strains of pathogens
• Nanomaterials research, which will provide improved barrier systems for infection control.

The Research Triangle Region offers an extensive knowledge base in public health, infectious diseases, agriculture, sensors, environmental health and data management that supports innovation in prevention, detection/diagnosis, and treatment, remediation and impact assessment of biological agents across many industry clusters.