Burnham at Epcot? Who? What?

[mousermerf]

A friend tipped me off to this.. and research led me to this..

Burnham is a biomedical nonprofit research institute. Disney lured them to FL for their new location from CA, and used Epcot, free of charge, as part of the deal. Quotes:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060824/news_1n24burnham.html

Burnham will receive $310 million in state and local money, land and a long list of perks over the next decade – among them free advertising on television and at Epcot at Walt Disney World, a $500,000 house for Burnham's visitors, golf club memberships and about $30 million in tissue donations from area hospitals.

http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/news_columnists/article/0,2820,TCP_24522_4948466,00.html

As for the entertainment advantages of Orlando, Pruitt said "they even brought Disney into it. They offered them a Burnham exhibit at Epcot — how can you compete with that, or why would you?"

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/biotech/20060823-1054-bn23burnham2.html

Walt Disney's Epcot Center in Orlando has agreed to give Burnham free exhibit space where the institute can publicize its research. The advertising is estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars over 10 years.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Good news...shame WoL is closed.

 

[Mr Bill]

Interesting. I assume this would be at Innoventions?

 

[mousermerf]

Interesting. I assume this would be at Innoventions?

Well, how much does it cost to sponsor a space at Epcot? How much is it for each thingy?

I found a sidebar in one of the articles and it's from Burnham and it says:

Tens of millions of dollars in free advertising at Epcot at Walt Disney World over the next decade.

What does that translate to?

 

[DisneyRoxMySox]

Burnham is just a medical research company? We are giving them free space? How is this good...exactly?

 

[Magic Maker]

Epcot is meant to be about growth, learning, and discovery. A medical research company fits into that goal.

 

[DisneyRoxMySox]

Epcot is meant to be about growth, learning, and discovery. A medical research company fits into that goal.

But for free?

 

[CaptainMichael]

But for free?

Because Burnham is a non-profit organization.

 

[DisneyRoxMySox]

Because Burnham is a non-profit organization.

Ahh...I see. Silly me, I guess I read over that little part..heh..I kinda feel like a jerk.

 

[mousermerf]

Ahh...I see. Silly me, I guess I read over that little part..heh..I kinda feel like a jerk.

At first i was thinking the same things. Then i realized the money into the Orlando area and Disney itself would have to far outweigh the cost to Disney for whatever they were paying for (and think of the tax write offs and the good publicity).

They say leaving a space closed, for example Wonders of Life, is a tax write off. Now, imagine that space is home to an exhibition for a nonprofit cancer research biomedical company. You have guests lured into it as an attraction, it operates, but you still don't pay taxes. I don't know if that's how it really works, but it seems like that'd be Disney's dream come true.

 

[Boardwalk Joe's]

Well think of it this way, once this company finds a cure for Cancer (godwilling!), Im sure Disney will be cashing in...

this sounds pretty cool to me!

 

[lwalker8]

I was thinking that maybe the Florida government might be kicking in funding for sponsorship on behalf of this company

 

[reggie9000]

Burnham investigators have developed a unique technique for culturing cancer cells into clusters, called spheroids, which links cellular biochemistry with tumor physiology. The 3-dimensional culturing of cancer cells is a significant advancement over conventional tissue culture methods in which cells are grown in two-dimension, as a flattened layer on plastic. The new method will expedite the drug discovery process, as thousands of compounds can be tested in three-dimensional cell culture to determine prime drug candidates before testing in animals.

"Before testing in animals." <<<< That's what I like to hear.

 

[DarkMeasures]

"Before testing in animals." <<<< That's what I like to hear.

Who cares who or what it is tested on as long as it works.

Anyway, Disney should just give them Wonders of Life.

 

[MissM]

Who cares who or what it is tested on as long as it works.

What a horrible attitude! If it doesn't matter, then why not grab kids off the street? Maybe old people. Who needs them anyway, right? It doesn't matter what suffering a living being goes through, so long as eventually they might find something that works.


-m

 

[reggie9000]

Who cares who or what it is tested on as long as it works.

Anyway, Disney should just give them Wonders of Life.

Yeah :sohappy::lookaroun

 

[reggie9000]

What a horrible attitude! If it doesn't matter, then why not grab kids off the street? Maybe old people. Who needs them anyway, right? It doesn't matter what suffering a living being goes through, so long as eventually they might find something that works.


-m

Words right out of my mouth, thank you. :animwink:

 

[Dizparks]

What a horrible attitude! If it doesn't matter, then why not grab kids off the street? Maybe old people. Who needs them anyway, right? It doesn't matter what suffering a living being goes through, so long as eventually they might find something that works.


-m

I think that convicts would work better than kids or the elderly. Sorry I couldn't resist. hehe

 

[Eeyore]

I'd say that animal testing certainly falls into the category of political discussion. Can we get this thread back on topic?

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I agree. I think this could solve a lot of problems. If they are puting up research advertising, that means Disney could redo 2/3 of wonders of Life, allow them to design and install the other 1/3, and breathe new life into a tax write-off-able property that has been sitting dormant. Obviously, this is just a pipe dream, but it would be pretty cool and satisfy everything Epcot is about and needs at this point.