KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- It's estimated that every scientist hired to work at the North Carolina Research Campus will create six to eight jobs in the outlying community.

“The environment and the culture that we hope to develop here is a collaborative one,” said Dr. Steven Colman, of Murdock research Institute. “It's much more common on university campuses that all of the core laboratories are dotted all over the university and there's really no interaction or little interaction between them, so it's a very unique phenomenon that we have that here.”

Scientists at the research campus will be looking for answers on their own but sharing ideas to gain perspective.

“The most exciting thing is having the best researchers in the world under one roof all working on a similar topic related to food nutrition and health with the best and most sophisticated equipment in the world all working from all different angles, different perspectives, different disciplines,” Dr. Alton Thompson, interim provost of North Carolina A&T, said. “We're bound to make a difference in terms of people's lives as well as improving people’s health.”

The research campus and its core lab are designed with openness to encourage a meeting of the minds. Scientists working on a variety of research will interact and collaborate, hopefully sharing ideas that will lead to breakthroughs.

“It's going to be a cross disciplinary environment here and this is where we can, you know, discover new stuff,” said Dr. Mary Ann Lila, of N.C. State’s Fruit and Vegetable Science department. “This is where the exciting research is going to happen.”

But the collaborative effort will not end there. When billionaire David Murdock announced plans to build the facility, he envisioned a working relationship with the entire area.

Following the biggest layoff in North Carolina's history, there were many questions about how the billion dollar campus would help laid off textile workers who live in and around Kannapolis. Murdock has promised jobs for people from all educational backgrounds.

Dr. Robert Wilhelm, who leads the Charlotte Research Institute at UNC Charlotte says what happens at the biotech campus will create jobs across the state.

“I'm looking forward to not only significant growth on the campus, thousands of investigators, students, faculty, people working at companies, but also to see the same kind of density all along the I-85 corridor,” said Wilhelm. “The 18 miles down to UNC Charlotte and further south and then as well north to our partners at Research Triangle Park.”

The construction alone created jobs for thousands of construction workers and contractors, and in April, before the buildings were finished, Wilmington-based PPD announced plans to create 200 to 300 clinical research jobs.

In the next year, thousands of jobs will be created on the research campus and throughout the region. But this project is also creating career opportunities for future generations.

“We really need that trained workforce,” Dr. Larry Mays, director and professor at the UNC Charlotte Bioinformatics Research Center, said. “We're really happy that you not only have the expertise on this campus but also that you're training the next generation of people to come in and work here.”

North Carolina is ranked third in the nation in the biotechnology industry and this research campus is expected to help the state soar to the top.

Right now, many of the companies and universities at the research campus are hiring their top-level scientists. In the coming months, as the campus picks up momentum, many more jobs will be announced. Click here for a look at the jobs already posted.

News 14 Carolina will have live coverage of the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday at the North Carolina Research Campus. Team coverage begins at 6 a.m.