What supporters and developers of the Knowledge Economy want is to be the best place in the world to start a business in the fields of health care, technology, alternative energy, research and design, according to discussion Tuesday morning at a special annual session on the status of the Knowledge Economy, sponsored by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and its Innovation Providence Implementation Council. The IPIC is the body in charge of overseeing development of the knowledge district on behalf of the Chamber.

Laurie White, president of the Providence Chamber, told the gathering of about 120 entrepreneurs, students and business leaders that Tuesday’s event was the third annual get-together to assess the status of the Knowledge Economy. She estimated that as many as 500 people are involved in the developing knowledge district.

The event was held at Brown University’s Laboratories of Molecular Medicine, which was once the Speidel building in the former Jewelry District and itself a prime example of the Knowledge Economy’s success to date. White noted that $25 million worth of the $165 million that Brown receives for biomedical research each year is done at the molecular labs.

Gina Raimondo, state general treasurer-elect, cited NABsys Inc., based on Eddy Street, as an example of a “world-class” business that draws millions of dollars of research funding to the state. Funded at its early stage by Point Judith Capital, the venture capital firm that Raimondo cofounded, NABsys is working to develop gene-sequencing technology.

The company began with “four or five guys” working day and night, Raimondo recounted, and now has about 40 employees as a result of support from the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Stata Venture Partners in Massachusetts, a company led by technology icon Ray Stata of Analog Devices, this year invested $7 million in NABsys, the treasurer-elect noted.

The goal of companies such as NABsys, which she said should also be the goal of the Knowledge Economy and everyone involved with it, is to be “the best in the world, in Providence, Rhode Island.”

Her theme of “best in the world” was echoed by later speakers, such as Kelly Ramirez, a founder of Change Accelerator, a social enterprise incubator that is “one of only a handful that exist globally,” she said. Her “grandiose vision,” she said, is to make Rhode Island “the national or even the global hub” for social enterprise startups.

Bill Hatfield, president of Bank of America-Rhode Island, chairman of the Providence Chamber board of directors and co-chair of IPIC, noted as the 2010 achievements in the Knowledge Economy such developments as: Brown receiving about $180 million in research grants in 2010, a 37 percent increase, and the University of Rhode Island winning approximately $105 million for research, a 60 percent hike.

The IPIC committee distributed $150,000 this year in federal and city grants to nine programs in the fields of health care, design and sustainable development, Hatfield said. Among those initiatives are: the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship boot camp for startups, Betaspring; the Smart Vaccine program developed by Dr. Annie De Groot of URI and EpiVax Inc. in Providence; and Joseph “Trey” Crisco’s efforts to develop a therapeutic toy for handicapped children. “It’s an impressive list of accomplishments,” Hatfield said.

Allan Tear, cofounder of Betaspring, an intensive 12-week program for new companies, said his group this year launched nine companies comprising 25 entrepreneurs and is putting plans in place to launch 100 companies over the next three years in such areas as digital media, information technology and physical technology and design. “We are now one of the top recognized startup accelerators in the country,” he said.

Other speakers included Providence Mayor-Elect Angel Taveras, Sen. Joshua Miller of Cranston, who chairs the Senate Corporations Committee, and Constance Howes, president and CEO of Women & Infants Hospital and chair of IPIC.