How life sciences are shaping New Hampshire’s economic future

Novocure personnel, along with local and state elected officials, crowd in front of the ribbon for the official opening Sept. 3, 2024, of the company’s new U.S. headquarters in downtown Portsmouth. Holding the ceremonial scissors at right center is Ashley Cordova, who was elevated that day from chief financial officer to chief executive officer, replacing Asaf Danzigner who is retiring at the end of the year. (Photo by Paul Briand)

ECONOMY

Life sciences aren’t new to New Hampshire. For decades, pioneering companies in biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics and advanced manufacturing have contributed to the state’s economy, often operating independently, without a unified voice or shared identity. But that changed in 2022, when the state of New Hampshire released a report and recognized life sciences as a strategic economic priority.

Later that year, NH Life Sciences (NHLS) was formed to champion the sector, connect stakeholders and share the state’s story with the world. Now, through public-private collaboration and renewed visibility on the international stage, life sciences in New Hampshire are stepping into the spotlight, not as a collection of independent businesses but as a high-potential cluster with growing momentum.

The state’s strategic spotlight on life sciences

Proximity to Boston-Cambridge’s life sciences ecosystem spurred an expansion into New Hampshire, building on its manufacturing roots and business-friendly policies.

The success of the natural progression of life sciences served as evidence of the industry’s growth potential, accelerated with state support.

“We’re right up the road (from Boston), and we offer a lot of benefits you can’t get in Massachusetts,” said Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

New Hampshire’s state budget is one of the lowest per capita in the country, so leaders put considerable thought into where they are spending limited resources.

Caswell noted that the life sciences report showed it was an industry where the state could see the most benefit from the investment.

By partnering with nonprofits like NHLS, the state sees the opportunity to expand its efforts to grow the life sciences industry and share companies’ successes.

The BEA helped sponsor the NHLS booth space at the recent BIO International Convention in Boston. The state felt it was important to recognize that New Hampshire is worthy of sharing the floor with global life sciences clusters and to have conversations with delegations and companies interested in investing in the state.

“NHLS as the messenger accelerates the reach of the story,” Caswell said.

From left: U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves, ARMI (Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute) Executive Director Dean Kamen and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen listen to Jodie Nazaka, economic development director for the City of Manchester, during a trolley tour of the Millyard and downtown Manchester on July 2, 2024. (Photo by Kendal Bush, ARMI)

Benefits the state offers to life science companies

New Hampshire is an attractive state for life science businesses looking to grow. Mark Laliberte, BEA’s business development manager, spoke with BIO attendees on some of the benefits a company might leverage.

Among the benefits is the state’s tax structure. There are no state sales or income tax. The Business Enterprise Tax (BET) rate is 0.55%, and the Business Profits Tax (BPT) rate is 7.5%. While the state does have high property taxes, its overall tax burden was ranked the third lowest in the country in a recent WalletHub comparison.

Additional financial incentives include an R&D tax credit, which currently has legislation pending to increase both the individual award and the total available funds. A Regenerative Manufacturing Tax Exemption is available to businesses involved in regenerative manufacturing, which exempts them from the business profits and enterprise taxes for 10 years. The Regional Economic Development Center offers grants for machinery purchases to qualifying micro-businesses.

The federal government recognized the region spanning New Hampshire’s largest cities, Manchester to Nashua, as the ReGen Valley Tech Hub, led by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI). This designation provides funding to projects to advance biofabrication therapies, train the workforce and invest in manufacturing facilities. In 2024, the ReGen Valley received a $44 million U.S. Economic Development Administration Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant.

These benefits can help a startup mitigate some of the expenses of development before its concept becomes a retail product.

How life sciences benefit New Hampshire

New Hampshire is investing in benefits to attract life sciences, because the state sees the economic ripple effects from the industry.

The BEA report showed that life sciences contributed $2.8 billion to New Hampshire’s gross domestic product in 2021, about 3% of the state economy. From 2012 to 2021, life science jobs in New Hampshire increased 15% and were expected to continue increasing at a rate of 6% from 2021 to 2026.

Life sciences workers, on average, earn significantly more than other industries, further boosting the state’s economy.

There is also a multiplier effect from life sciences that results in new jobs in supporting industries. According to the BEA report, a multiplier is a way of measuring how strongly one industry affects other industries, services and spending in that region.

A jobs multiplier, for example, indicates how important an industry is in regional job creation; a job multiplier of 3 would mean that for every job created by that industry, two other jobs would be created in other industries for a total of three jobs. For New Hampshire’s life science cluster, the multipliers indicate that these industries are highly impactful to the economy.

For the cluster as a whole and for each industry group, the multipliers are all above 1.5, and many exceed 2. The jobs multiplier relates that, for 100 life science jobs in the state, there are another 130 jobs in other sectors due to further spending and investment.

The research and development dervices and medical equipment and supplies manufacturing industry groups are key employment generators; they have jobs multipliers that are well over 2, meaning that their economic footprint is more than double their direct activity.

A road map for continued momentum

NHLS continues to advocate for policies and pipelines that grow the life sciences and support the state’s goals. Working with members and partners, it is developing a workforce pipeline at the community college and university level.

It is connecting companies with resources and experts through events and networking. It’s also advocating for policies that support startups, expanding global companies and Granite State institutions adapting to evolving needs.

Overall, the industry organization is finding new ways to share the stories of life science companies finding success here and guiding others to the same achievement.

While New Hampshire may be just up the road from Boston, it’s forging its own path to be a leading life sciences cluster, buoyed by state priorities and member support.

For companies looking to join the rising tide of life sciences benefits in New Hampshire, find out how membership can support your goals. Learn more at nhlifesciences.org/membership.