On July 13, 2020 Techstars LA announced the ten startups that will make up its 2020 class, the first cohort to go remote due to COVID-19. Ben Bergman from dot.La, reports on how Techstars LA is evolving their programming to adjust to these challenging times.

Recent reporting by Howard Fine of Los Angeles Business Journal find that Los Angeles’ bioscience sector continues to grow and thrive. According to Fine’s report, “L.A.’s bioscience sector generated $44 billion in economic activity and nearly 196,000 jobs last year, increases of 4% and 2.5%, respectively, over 2018, according to an annual report released last month by an industry advocacy group.”

The 2020 Life Science Industry Report produced by BioCom finds that in Los Angeles County the industry provides 195,820 jobs (direct, indirect, and induced) and economic activity of $44.2 billion in 2019. For the state of California, the life sciences industry provided 1.4 million jobs and $372 billion in economic activity.

The Bio Revolution is a powerful new wave of innovation that is expected to transform business and society beyond healthcare, according to a recent McKinsey article by Michael Chui, Matthias Evers, and Alice Zheng. The applications and economic impact of these new biotechologies, their analysis suggests, will be far reaching - into agriculture, food, materials, energy, and consumer products and services. “The likely disruption of the Bio Revolution is vast and poised to influence a wide range of industries.”

John Cumbers, Forbes Senior Contributor, building off of and providing commentary on Marc Andreessen’s recent essay “It’s Time To Build” suggests that “…biology is the building platform for California and the rest of the world in the 21st century.”

A recent expert panel brought together by Rachel Uranga, Business, Health and Tech reporter at dot.LA discusses the recent innovations in telemedicine and other innovations brought about by COVID-19.