ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) – AstraZeneca\u2019s planned move into Albemarle County is expected to bring billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of new jobs. <\/p>\n
CvilleBioHub is working to prepare potential employees for those jobs before AstraZeneca opens its doors.<\/p>\n
Nikki Hastings, president of CvilleBioHub, said her organization is in conversations with AstraZeneca about its plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in conversations, aware of what AstraZeneca is looking to do and how they plan to grow here,\u201d Hastings said.<\/p>\n
Hastings said those conversations are helping her team understand the skills AstraZeneca and other companies will need as the industry expands.<\/p>\n
According to CvilleBioHub, the bioscience industry now supports about 2,100 jobs across more than 250 establishments. CvilleBioHub says industrial bioscience jobs pay an average of about $121,000 a year.<\/p>\n
Neil Williamson, president of the Free Enterprise Forum, said that growth is part of a larger innovation corridor taking shape around Charlottesville.<\/p>\n
\u201cLife sciences and defense sectors are really the innovation corridor that the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development is talking about. Getting our workforce skilled up for those jobs is a critically important part of our task,\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n
AstraZeneca is investing $4.5 billion in a new manufacturing campus at the Rivanna Futures site in Albemarle County. The facility is expected to create about 600 permanent jobs, including engineers, scientists and process facilitators. AstraZeneca also expects about 3,000 jobs to support construction of the facility.<\/p>\n
In a statement<\/a>, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot called it the largest investment in the company\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cWith our $4.5 billion investment in Virginia, the largest in AstraZeneca\u2019s history, we are not only building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, but also driving life sciences innovation and economic growth. This new facility will create thousands of jobs and strengthen America\u2019s national security and health sovereignty,\u201d Soriot said.<\/p>\n The need isn\u2019t limited to AstraZeneca. Other major investments include Afton Scientific\u2019s $200 million expansion, Bio-Cat\u2019s fermentation facility expansion and UVA\u2019s Manning Institute of Biotechnology. <\/p>\n Hastings said those jobs will require people with the right training.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re discussing how the training activities for the Advanced Pharma Manufacturing Training Center will have a presence here in the Central Virginia region,\u201d Hastings said.<\/p>\n The work CvilleBioHub is doing is about building a pipeline, connecting students from kindergarten through 12th grade to higher education and eventually to careers in the industry. That includes expanding internships and hands-on learning while bridging students to the technical training.<\/p>\n Williamson, however, questioned whether the Charlottesville-area can handle the new growth.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question for our community is: are we ready for those jobs? Can we position our workforce to take on these jobs, so that home-grown talent can be utilized … rather than bringing in new individuals to do that.\u201d Williamson said.<\/p>\n