At first glance, the community of Junction City seems an unlikely suspect in the hunt for the region’s fastest growing bioscience hub.
But it’s here in Junction City, nestled amid the ancient Flint Hills and two hours from the Kansas City metro area, that state and local leaders have pulled off a series of economic development coups and landed this community of 18,000 squarely on the biotech map. In the past three years, Junction City has welcomed three big-time bioscience companies — Ventria Bioscience, Edenspace and Lead Horse Technologies — along with a number of ancillary service sector and technology firms. The result is new life and a new life science focus in this historic city, which has emerged as a shining example of how Kansas is successfully luring biotech companies from across the nation.
  The influx began in September 2006 when Sacramento-based pharmaceuticals firm Ventria Bioscience chose Junction City for a new production facility. Six months later it was Edenspace, a producer of plant-based renewable fuels and environmentally safe products, that announced its relocation from Virginia to Junction City. Medical reference system developer Lead Horse Technologies followed three months later, accepting Junction City’s generous economic development incentive offer to relocate from Colorado.
Just like that, Junction City’s makeover began.
"In a span of less than two years, Junction City was suddenly home to three of the most innovative and exciting bioscience firms in the country," said Jeffrey Black, Director of the Junction City/Geary County Economic Development Commission. "Now Junction City finds itself on the ‘must call’ list when a bioscience company is looking for a new home. That says a whole lot about what this city and the entire state of Kansas have to offer."
So why Junction City? Largely because Ventria, Edenspace and Lead Horse — while different in scope and focus — all saw similar qualities in the city.
For starters, Junction City’s aggressive financial incentives made it competitive with virtually every similar-sized community in the nation. But just as important as the financial incentives were the city’s logistical advantages. Ventria loved the region’s proximity to fertile farmland that could grow rice and other inputs for biopharmaceutical products. Edenspace saw easy access to corn, switchgrass and other crops that could be converted to renewable fuels. And all three companies loved the proximity to Manhattan-based Kansas State University, one of the nation’s foremost animal health and plant science research universities and the home to the Department of Homeland Security’s soon-to-be-built National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.
And then there were the intangibles, including Kansas’ legacy of ag-based bioscience activity, a nationally recognized pro-business legislative climate and streamlined collaboration among state and local leaders — things that California, Virginia and Colorado simply could not match.
"It was clear to us right from the start that Junction City and the entire state of Kansas had their act together," said Bruce Ferguson, President of Edenspace. "We looked all over the country, and the simple truth is that Kansas showed us an unmatched commitment to bioscience growth and a determination to become a leading bioscience center. It was an easy decision for us, and, in retrospect, it was absolutely the right decision."
Click here for more information about opportunities in Junction City.
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