Public funds and local biotechnology firm creation

•Studies the relationship between federal funds and local biotechnology firm creation in the U.S.•Employs Poisson fixed effects models drawing from a 18 year long dataset.•Federal funds towards academic institutions increase the local biotechnology firm birth rate by 5.9 percent.•Federal funds towards incumbent biotechnology firms increase the local biotechnology firm birth rate by 58.10 percent.•Year of firm entry, and regional characteristics are also important for local firm creation.