GMCA History

GMCA was established by the Georgia General Assembly in 2000 as a local organization with the mission of advancing the life sciences industry development. In subsequent years, GMCA was granted additional responsibilities as a part of its authority.

In 2005, GMCA was attached to the Department of Economic Development for funding purposes.

Also in 2005, GMCA was awarded a $500,000 grant from the One Georgia Authority to equip and furnish the MCG Life Sciences Business Development Center (LSBDC) established by the Medical College of Georgia in 2004 with 16,000 square feet of incubator space. The purchased equipment is transferred between the LSBDC and ABBC through an executed Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA) depending on the need of the member companies.

The Augusta BioBusiness Center (ABBC) was conceptualized in 2005, as a result of strong demand for incubator space by local and regional entrepreneurs. The renovations for the ABBC started on April of 2007 at 973 Broad Street in the section designated as a wet laboratory suite of ABBC. The second phase, which consists of dry laboratories and offices to house the telemedicine, medical software, medical devices and bioinformatics type of companies was completed in August 2007. An additional wet lab/office suite was completed in February 2008 at a second building located at 985 Broad Street.