PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Michael Baran, Partner at Pfizer's venture capital fund
1:24:35
ยท
123 sec
Michael Baran, a partner in Pfizer's venture capital fund, testifies in favor of the SPARC Kips Bay Life Sciences Campus project. He emphasizes the importance of building biotech companies in New York City and highlights three key points supporting the project.
- Geographic diversity: The project centralizes lab space, making it easier for scientists to collaborate.
- Importance of the high school: It will help attract and nurture young talent in the sciences.
- Retention strategies: Baran suggests making it easier for people to work in the area, opposing the congestion tax and proposing tax incentives instead.
Michael Baran
1:24:35
Okay.
1:24:35
We're on.
1:24:36
Good afternoon, everybody.
1:24:37
So my name is Mike Baron.
1:24:39
I'm here to testify on behalf of myself.
1:24:41
Although, professionally, I'm a partner in Pfizer's venture capital fund.
1:24:45
I travel the world building biotech companies on behalf of Pfizer and other institutional investors.
1:24:52
I'm in favor of this project, but one thing that I just said that's problematic is, I said, travels the world, and we should be building these biotech companies here in New York City.
1:25:01
And that's why I support that's one of the reasons why I support this project.
1:25:04
So just three other quick points.
1:25:06
1st is around geographic diversity.
1:25:09
We do have lab space in the city across all the boroughs.
1:25:11
And part of the reason why that's not working, and myself and colleagues often build these companies in other cities, is because it takes a long time to get from the different parts of the cities, the Bronx to Queens, wherever.
1:25:22
Right?
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What you have here is you have everything in one spot, and it's already happening organically.
1:25:27
Right?
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You have NYU, Bellevue, Alexandria, Deerfield there.
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Spark just adds to that.
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And then you have all the scientists together, and that's how good things happen.
1:25:37
Number 2 is I'd I'd like to emphasize the, importance of the high school.
1:25:41
You need to build, physical infrastructure, but you need talent to to be there also.
1:25:47
And at the moment, I feel that the next generation looks at other professions as as a as a better way to go, such as management consulting, technology, medicine, law.
1:25:58
So now we'll have these kids, and we'll be able to catch them early and interact with them and show them that, you know, science is a viable career path.
1:26:05
And then point number 3, I had to slip this in.
1:26:07
You have the building.
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You have the talent.
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How do you get them to stay here?
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You have to make it easy for them.
1:26:13
You can't make it hard.
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And so, also, as a resident, I'd like to, you know, say something negative.
1:26:19
I'm not in favor of this congestion taxing congestion tax.
1:26:23
You know, we need to be doing the opposite on when it comes to the spark project.
1:26:27
We can't be charging people $10 to come to work or $9.
1:26:30
We have to make it easier.
1:26:31
We should do the opposite.
1:26:32
We should give them tax incentive.
1:26:34
So that's it.
1:26:35
I yield my one second.
1:26:36
Thank you for for the time.