By Jessica Hyland, Executive Director, Iowa Biotechnology Association (IowaBio) 

Our state's biosciences sector is thriving. It employs more than 28,000 people across 1,900 businesses. We're home to the nation's highest concentration of food scientists and employees in vaccine and immunotherapy biological manufacturing. And Iowa inventors have received roughly 2,500 bioscience-related patents in recent years.

But continued progress now depends on our congressional delegation working to renew the Small Business Innovation Research program, a federal initiative that helps small companies transform early-stage research into real-world breakthroughs. From cancer diagnostics to precision agriculture, SBIR-funded startups are pushing the frontiers of science — and fueling job growth along the way.

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