The Maine Technology Institute will create a new Maine Life Sciences Center, designed to encourage innovation and draw investment to the field, Gov. Janet Mills’ Office announced Thursday.

The life sciences industry comprises nearly 10,000 jobs and is responsible for about $2.3 billion in economic activity throughout the state, the governor’s office said.

The center will connect research institutes, businesses and workforce programs to help the state strengthen the life sciences sector and ensure there is investment and a labor force to keep it moving, according to the announcement. Mills signed an executive order creating the center last week.

“We are laying the groundwork for more Maine businesses to succeed in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world,” Mills said in a written statement.

The governor’s office also announced that the Maine Technology Institute had awarded $2.7 million in grants to build a shared lab for startups called the Maine Life Sciences Incubator. That includes $2.3 million for Hatch.Bio Labs, a Massachusetts company, to construct, and $400,000 for the Roux Institute in Portland to expand “entrepreneurial support programs.”

That lab, announced earlier this year, will be built somewhere in Portland by the end of 2026, according to the announcement. An office spokesperson declined to name a specific location Thursday.

The center will work to help commercialize research and projects that originate in the incubator, the office said.

Taken together, the center and incubator will bring Maine to the forefront of the life sciences field, state officials hope. Mike Duguay, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, said the pair will “transform research into products, startups into companies, and ideas into jobs.”