With biotechnology becoming a key component of the state’s economy, the 10,000-member Connecticut Business & Industry Association announced today the creation of a Connecticut Bioscience Growth Council led by Paul Pescatello.

Pescatello, former president of Connecticut United for Research Excellence, called biotechnology “a keystone for Connecticut’s future” and said in a statement that CBIA offers a “deep bench of government affairs talent and resources” to push support for biotech and biopharmaceutical companies.

“This council will be an indispensable bridge between early-stage companies, scientists, and the established biopharma community,” said Usha Pillai of Ledyard, a former Pfizer Inc. scientist, in a statement. “It ties one of the state’s key economic development efforts — the recruitment and retention of biotech R&D, including The Jackson Laboratory — to one of its most important business sectors.”

CBIA said the newly formed council “will represent the interests of biotech and biopharma companies — large and small — at the state Capitol and regulatory agencies, providing greater advocacy support and resources, and developing an overall plan for better positioning these companies at the state, regional, and national level.”

According to the CBIA, Pescatello will be involved in advocacy work that includes protecting established policies such as research-and-development tax credits. CBIA supports tax credits, saying they foster innovation, create jobs and help make the state more attractive in competing with other states and countries to attract new companies.

“As they develop lifesaving medicines, new medical treatments, critical medical devices, and other innovative products made possible with life sciences technology, we need to make sure that Connecticut is a great, desirable place for these companies to operate and invest,” said Joe Brennan, CBIA’s president and chief executive, in a statement.

“With the establishment of the Bioscience Growth Council, the biopharmaceutical sector is connected directly to the larger Connecticut business community,” added Jim Baxter, a senior vice president at Boehringer Ingelheim in Ridgefield and a CBIA board member.

In addition to working with established firms, the council is expected to help nurture startup biopharma ventures, CBIA said, and will be collaborating as well with entrepreneurial initiatives and economic development agencies statewide.

Neither Pescatello nor Susan Froshauer, president and chief executive of CURE, could be reached late this afternoon for comments. Pescatello is president of the New England Biotech Association and heads the statewide organization We Work for Health Connecticut.

For more information about the bioscience council, go to cbia.com/ctbio.