Attleboro and Mansfield are golden with the state's biotechnology industry.

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council lists the two municipalities among 60 cities and towns rated as "BioReady" communities by the industry organization, indicating they contain features ranging from streamlined permitting to sites already designated for biotech development.

The industry organization's rating system offers four certification levels from bronze to platinum that indicate each community's readiness to host biotech businesses, said Peter Abair, the group's director of economic development. Attleboro and Mansfield are designated as "gold" communities, the second highest level.

Both communities already have areas zoned appropriately for biotechnology and or buildings already in use by biotech firms, Abair said.

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council initiated by BioReady Communities program in 2008. Individual communities applied to be considered as biotechnology-ready by submitting answers to a survey. Although biotechnology has suffered a slowdown because of the recession, having sites and infrastructure available for biotech could be a key to future development as the industry expands, Abair said.

"You have to be ready to get in the game," Abair said.

Since 2001, employment in biotechnology in Massachusetts has increased by 43 percent, he said.

Mansfield adopted special zoning in its industrial park several years ago to enable the park to accommodate biotechnology. Attleboro has at least two sites zoned favorably for biotech, Abair said, the industrial business park and the former Texas Instruments Inc. site off Pleasant Street.

The Attleboro area already is home to a large number of medical device companies which have many of the same needs as biotechnology firms, Abair said.

MassBio and partner organizations began the BioReady Communities Campaign last year by conducting seven regional seminars throughout the state. Officials in each region were briefed about the biotech industry and guidance on how to position a municipality as a destination for biotech laboratory and manufacturing facilities.

Topics presented in the seminars included background on the industry, economic impact, facility requirements, bio-safety and municipal approval practices.

Abair said the ratings system can be used as a marketing tool as well as a method that biotech firms can use to locate industry-friendly communities.