Biotechnology has become the must-have industry for a growing number of U.S. states, with its promise of high-paying jobs and potential future growth. At the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual conference, which began here yesterday, representatives from a host of states ranging from Florida to Missouri are pitching themselves as great locales for biotech. But a report put out today about the country’s top biotechnology centers states that only a handful of metropolitan areas have actually created sustainable, successful biotech centers. The winner is the San Diego metropolitan area. It takes first place among the biotech clusters ranked by the Milken Institute in its first “America’s Biotech and Life Science Clusters” study, released today. Following close behind San Diego are Boston; Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.; San Jose, Calif.; and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash. The study ranked the metropolitan areas using 44 measurements within two broad categories: the biotech innovation pipeline, which includes research and development dollars and the quality of the workforce; and the assessment of impact, or how successful an area has been at bringing ideas to market and creating companies, jobs and products. Having the combination of elements for success--including top R&D institutions, local venture capital firms, a base of well-trained scientists and a pool of managers capable of turning good science into good businesses--is key to developing a thriving biotech hub, the study concludes. Plus there’s hope that biotech will be a growth industry for the 21st century. “The economic consequences of where these biotechnology clusters form and grow will likely be immense,” says Ross DeVol, the study’s principal author.
