Massachusetts will provide up to $500 million over five years to support the state's booming biotech industry, including investments in public infrastructure, R&D, workforce training and education. The funding will include up to $295 million in capital funding aimed at infrastructure improvements and up to $150 million in tax incentives to encourage job creation, according to a June 17 press release from the state administration. Two days after the announcement, Governor Charlie Baker discussed the plan at the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego. It is “the next act in our investment in the life sciences,” he said. A big part of the investment will be around workforce development. “That is going to end up being a major place where I believe (we) will create public-private partnerships going forward,” he said. The new commitment comes ten years after then-governor Deval Patrick used the BIO meeting to unveil his vision for a ten-year, $1-billion Supercluster program to expand life sciences activities in the state (Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 604, 2007). Legislation passed a year later established the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to implement the program. MLSC, which will continue to administer the new funding, has invested more than $650 million across the state, including through infrastructure grants and tax incentives and capital spending to spur job growth. According to Ernst & Young's latest annual Beyond Borders industry analysis, New England biotechs (those with revenues less than $500 million) raised $7.1 billion in capital in 2016, compared with $4.8 billion for biotechs in the San Francisco area and $2.5 billion for those in Far East Asia.