Romney: Bay State Needs to Ramp up Marketing
       While Massachusetts may be the reigning champion in the biotech world, its presence at a nationwide conference needs improvement, Gov. Mitt Romney told reporters Tuesday. Speaking to a handful of Massachusetts reporters via telephone from a biotechnology conference in Philadelphia, Romney said he has frequently been told the Bay State needs to do a better job marketing itself outside the state, including making improvements to the state’s display at the conference.
       “They said we’ve got to tune it up,” Romney said, noting that North Carolina has a particularly impressive display and nearly 20 sales people marketing the state. “Virtually every state and every governor wants to take a piece of our pie.”
       Since arriving early Tuesday afternoon, Romney said he had met with eight different senior company executives, most of whom are located in Massachusetts or do a large amount of business with the state. During those meetings, Romney said, the recent legalization of embryonic stem cell research was mentioned once with the person saying: “By the way, I appreciate the position you took on stem cell research. I think you were right,” Romney said.
       The governor vetoed the Legislature’s bill to sanction embryonic stem cell research, claiming it would allow for human cloning. And while Romney says he supports stem cell research, he feels the new law crosses ethical lines. Democratic leaders said they feared Massachusetts would lose its edge in the biotech industry, while Romney claims only a small percentage of companies perform that research. Today, he reiterated that assertion.
       “These companies don’t do that here,” he said, noting that stem cell research is done by between 1 and 3 percent of the biotech firms nationwide. “It’s just not relevant to these folks.” On the positive side, Romney said other states comment that Massachusetts is the "ideal" place to locate a biotech firm, due to its research cluster and the quality of colleges and universities. 
       Also attending the BIO 2005 Annual International Convention are Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and former House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who now heads the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Romney said. The governor said Massachusetts is likely to host the conference again in the near future.