Sandra Kay Helsel tries to keep her finger on the pulse of Tucson's technology sector.
Her company, Sk Helsel & Associates LLC, provides public-relations services to keep the tech industry connected with a network of universities, researchers and entrepreneurs.
Helsel, 53, has consulted for companies in Arizona and provided media relations for nanotech clusters in San Diego and San Jose. She also was editor-in-chief of an online newsletter for the nanotechnology industry.
A University of Arizona alumna, she received an interdisciplinary doctorate degree from the College of Eduction. Her travels have taken her from the East Coast to the West Coast and back to the Old Pueblo.
We caught up with Helsel via e-mail to ask about the state of high-tech industries:
Q: Given the current economy, with investors getting more finicky, how will access to capital affect biotech developments?
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A: I wish I could say otherwise, but the current economic situation is going to hurt biotechnology and all emerging tech sectors — and now even green/clean tech will probably take a hit, too. Everybody is holding onto their cash. The economic dislocation is universal and not just for biotech.
Yet the emerging technology sectors such as biotechnology are the very businesses that will eventually bring us out of this collapse. Innovation and emerging tech are the drivers of the future.
Q: How does the Tucson area stack up against other tech and biotech centers throughout the country?
A: My sense is that the Tucson and the greater Arizona biotech cluster is on the edge of a positive and powerful tipping point. The downward spiral of the economy may slow things down a bit, but the strengths of Tucson and the greater Arizona biotech cluster are evident.
The September AZBio Banquet in Phoenix clearly showed the size of the biotech industry in Arizona.
Q: How much risk is there that biotech and tech companies with headquarters outside of Tucson will consolidate and move out of town?
A: Tucson-sited firms must be cognizant that headquarters are needing to reduce the burn. It becomes the duty of the locals to identify and communicate their unique value and the value of remaining in Tucson (as opposed) to headquarters.
Q: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the biotech industry here in Tucson?
A: Tucson, because of the research taking place at the University of Arizona, has the raw intellectual power and potential to grow biotech businesses.
The second strength is the community-building that is taking place amongst all the biotech players here in Tucson and in greater Arizona. The quality of life in Tucson is a great strength for local biotech employers. I'm a classic example. I chose to remain here and raise my son in Tucson.
One weakness may be the lack of a regional focus on "how to compete" against aggressive biotech clusters in other regions.
The lack of sizable, local sources of capital has always been a problem and weakness for Tucson biotech.