To the Editor,

Last May, Representative Joe Shekarchi sponsored an exciting new presence in Rhode Island, the Life Science Hub. The Hub is where biotech companies that wish to set up shop in R.I. will go to seek state funding.

Enacted into law, it met for the first time on Monday, January 22nd. Its mission is to serve as the public hub for the life sciences industry in Rhode Island.

Neil Steinberg is heading up the Hub as Chair (and chief visionary). At its inaugural meeting held at the Brown Medical School in Providence, he made it clear that the Hub need not be in Providence and mentioned Warwick as a possible location for its office.

Great idea! And even better if the Hub is closely connected with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. I remember years ago, a former RIAC CEO envisioned a corporate briefing center at PVD. The time is ripe to realize that vision – the Life Science Hub at T. F. Green International.

Companies from around the country, and perhaps the world, would be coming in and discovering what Rhode Island has to offer – our scenic coastline, universities, and much more affordable housing than in Massachusetts.

Future executives would see, firsthand, the potential for their company in Warwick.  We would make them feel at home! No need to slip away in an Uber down the modified Airport Connector, rather then fighting traffic to get to Brown or wherever.

Our economic development people could explain that workers for these new biotechs would be coming here by train from Boston and the suburbs, then perhaps thinking of relocating to Warwick. If they drive up from Connecticut, parking would be a breeze.

Locating their biotech in Warwick would spare workers from having to trudge 20 minutes through wind and rain, from the Providence Train Station to the (envisioned) Hub near the Brown Medical buildings. Also avoided would be high East Side rents, limited parking, poor bus connections, and queasy after-dark walks back to the station.

We may need to move mountains to get the Life Science Hub located somewhere near the airport and the Warwick Train Station, but let's go for it!  It’s time to mobilize our Economic Development Department, our Chamber of Commerce, and everybody else who can raise their voices for Warwick to become the Hub for Life Science.

Richard Langseth
Warwick