The following development organizations are recipients of Expansion Solutions Magazine’s 2008 Awards of Excellence in the *** Biotech *** industry category. These awards recognize organizations who have demonstrated exceptional progress and potential in the development of their areas -- by successfully recruiting, retaining and growing businesses. The winners below are listed in alphabetical order and are reflective of our top 5 picks.
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Austin Chamber of Commerce
Austin, TX
Austin is well on its way to becoming a leading hub for biotechnology research and development. Bringing biotech to Austin is a priority for the chamber's economic development team and we are convinced that Austin has the ability to position their city as a biotech hot spot. They are accomplishing this by bringing together world-class innovators and entrepreneurs in a business-friendly environment. Austin has fostered successful business development by bringing together a combination of venture capital, top notch universities, a highly-talented workforce and expert community leadership. This approach has already brought in some of the nation's leading biotechnology and life sciences companies and the number of start-ups continues to grow.
The success of a biotechnology company depends on bringing good ideas to the marketplace. The key ingredients are ideas, innovation, research, and resources to fund these projects. The University of Texas has award winning divisions such as the College of Biomedical Engineering and its prestigious College of Pharmacy that serve Austin as centers for innovation. More than 100 research units concentrating in areas including Biochemistry, nanotechnology and medical and biological engineering are represented there. Austin is surrounded by major universities providing a very large, highly-educated and talented workforce.
Recently, the Austin Chamber of Commerce released a study that indicates a major medical school joined with the University of Texas would establish Texas at the forefront of biosciences and biotechnology industries helping to ensure the future prosperity of Texas. The study found that a major medical school can offer remarkable economic benefits for the surrounding area. Not only can it advance business activity but it will foster research in a wide range of areas and provide related industries with means to further develop. This would be exciting news for Austin. Bringing in a medical school could be the key to catapult them to the forefront of the biotechnology industry.
Austin is one of the highest ranked regions in the country for venture capital investment. There are several venture capital companies in Austin providing funding for life sciences and biotechnology. Incubators provide wet labs and business resources for emerging biotech and life science companies. These incubators not only provide physical space to work, but also provide assistance in getting products to the marketplace.
Baltimore Development Corporation
Baltimore, MD
In the heart of the Mid-Atlantic, the port city of Baltimore, Maryland is a dynamic urban center fueled by a diverse economy, internationally-renowned universities and medical centers, and an extraordinary collection of historic and cultural resources. Industries such as health care and life sciences attract a highly educated and productive workforce that includes the nation’s highest concentration of life science PhD’s and engineers.
Baltimore City lies in the middle of the country’s most concentrated bioscience region, the Northeast US Bioscience Corridor. Stretching from Washington, D.C. to Boston, the corridor employs over 250,000 in bioscience firms, has over 850 daily air flights connecting the cities within the corridor, and has had over $8 billion in venture capital investment in the biosciences in the past five years.
Baltimore City is home to the University of Maryland Medical System and the world-renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine, the largest recipient of federal research dollars in the country. Baltimore offers an affordable quality of life – nearly 1/3 less than the cost of other northeastern cities. More than 370 bioscience companies and federal institutions are within 45 miles from Baltimore.
Baltimore offers tremendous real estate options for bioscience companies, as well. Both Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, Baltimore have life science parks open to tenants with further development at both parks totaling more than 2.2 million square feet of new wet lab and office space. There is also a very strong incubator program in Baltimore, that assists emerging companies accelerate their growth through partnerships, joint ventures and other collaborations.
One such incubator is the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC), a subsidiary of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), Baltimore City’s economic development agency. The ETC is a non-profit business incubator program, with two individual incubator facilities (ETC at Canton and ETC at Johns Hopkins Eastern), geared toward growing early stage technology-based companies in Baltimore City. As part of BDC, the ETC promotes economic development by providing companies with business, technical and networking connections through a wealth of resources to help smooth their path from concept to profitability.
Baltimore’s biotech industry offers world class research universities, an established life science business community, a prime location, a highly educated workforce, and an affordable quality of life.
For the second year in a row, Cabarrus County, North Carolina wins our Top 5 Picks for Biotech locations. This industry continues to be an essential part of Cabarrus County's diversified plan for growth. With the addition of the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, scientists from around the world are exploring new applications in the biotech field. The Research Campus opened on October 20, 2008.
The 350-acre research campus located in Kannapolis is occupied by seven major North Carolina universities, including Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, NC Central, NC Agricultural & Technical, UNC-Greensboro, and UNC-Charlotte. In addition to these academic institutions, several companies have a strong presence on campus, including Dole Foods Research & Development, Carolinas Healthcare System, PPD, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Sensory Spectrum, and Anatomics.
The David H. Murdock Research Institute, located in the 311,000 square foot Core Laboratory Building, houses over $100 million in state-of-the-art scientific equipment. This equipment is divided into eight core laboratories: genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, nuclear magnetic resonance, clinical discovery, histochemistry, cell culture and transgenics, and integrated microscopy.
Cabarrus County is one of the fastest-growing in North Carolina and is one of sixteen counties in the Charlotte region. The municipalities in Cabarrus County include Concord, Kannapolis, Mount Pleasant, Harrisburg, and Midland.
Medical College of Georgia/Life Sciences Innovation Center
Augusta, GA
Augusta, Georgia is flexing its muscles as a big player in the Biotech and Life Sciences arena, due much in part to efforts from the Medical College of Georgia's Life Sciences Innovation Center. Working closely with the Development Authority of Augusta/Richmond County, MCG has been able to develop and bring biotech companies to the area. Their business incubators encourage, nurture and foster entrepreneurial enterprises.
The Centers of Innovation are a statewide economic development program launched by Governor Sonny Purdue in 2003 and managed by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, with funding from the OneGeorgia Authority.
The MCG business incubator is the state's only Innovation Center devoted to the life sciences. As an IC member, the business incubator in Augusta offers: space, equipment and mentoring services for its tenants; an outreach program to assist entrepreneurs from all over the state, including rural Georgia; and matching grants when industry teams with an MCG faculty member to work in translational research.
Private Corporations can join the Life Sciences Innovation Center as members and support organizations can participate as sponsors. Benefits include facilitated access to LSBDC/IC programs and facilities, funding opportunities and an opportunity to help shape the future of the life sciences as an economic driver for the state of Georgia. The Center, or "LSBDC", provides wet lab and office space, specialized equipment, access to campus resources, and business counsel. Each tenant is assigned a Mentor and a group of Advisors who can help the company grow and prosper. Special attention is devoted to having the new firm develop a sound business strategy that can develop a product or service to satisfy an unmet need and generate a return for its investors.
The overall intent is to transfer technology out of a laboratory and into the commercial sector with a benefit to society. This is consistent with the longstanding tradition of MCG itself, which has been providing medical care, education, and research discoveries for 175 years.
San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
San Diego, CA
San Diego is certainly no stranger to being recognized as one of the most productive and successful biotech hubs in the United States. The City is famous for the spirit of collaboration among its world-class universities, research institutes, community colleges, non-profit organizations and businesses.
Local non-profit organizations such as BIOCOM, CONNECT, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation along with local community colleges and the San Diego Workforce Partnership work to ensure ample opportunities for technology transfer, employee training, access to capital, bulk purchasing of tools and supplies and other collaborative efforts. San Diego’s unparalleled climate and attractive lifestyle facilitates the attraction and retention of highly-skilled and highly-qualified employees.
Major companies with a San Diego presence include Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Invitrogen, Gen-Probe, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Biogen Idec, Nanogen, Isis and Diversa Corporation. The area's largest private employers include Sharp Health Care (13,000 workers) and Qualcomm Inc. (9,000 workers).
The leading research institutions include University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Burnham Institute for Medical Research, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and The Scripps Research Institute. UCSD is now regarded as one of the nation's top 10 research universities, and together with the surrounding research institutes, forms the nucleus of a densely-packed cluster of more than 500 biotech companies developing, manufacturing, and distributing a wide variety of drugs, diagnostics, devices, and development tools. Collectively, these firms employ over 40,000 people, including 14 Nobel Laureates, and have a $9.1 billion annual impact on the local economy.
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