RALEIGH -- A multi-million dollar biomanufacturing training and education center -- the largest hands-on facility of its kind in the nation -- will be dedicated Wednesday at North Carolina State University.

Every year, the facility will train up to 2,000 students and prospective employees for a growing biotech industry. They'll do it in a very hands-on way by simulating a full-scale biomanufacturing pilot plant, one that's capable of producing biopharmaceutical products and packaging them in a sterile environment.

Students will work with the same equipment as they would on the job in a laboratory setting. It's all top-of-the-line high-tech stuff that will really fill a need in the state as the triangle area ranks third in the country in terms of a concentration of biotech businesses.

“Our partners are wanting us to start training the workforce of tomorrow and at the same time update the workforce that they have,” said N.C. State chancellor James Oblinger. “This is a shortage area in terms of the qualified people to fill that need.”

BTEC is not just for N.C. State students. It was built in partnership with the state's community college system. It took two years to build and is funded in part by a grant from golden leaf.

The BTEC dedication ceremony will be attended by Gov. Mike Easley, UNC system president Erskine Bowles and many others state leaders. It will begin at 11 a.m.