From inside the walls of the massive tents erected for the seventh annual Celebration of Biotechnology last Thursday, one would never have known Florida’s unemployment rate was hovering around 12 percent. The annual event attracted more than 500 people who browsed over 70 vendor tables highlighting local biotechnology and affiliated companies.
Last week’s event was more successful than in prior years, probably due in large part to new features including a presentation tent, park bus tours, local food vendors and the elimination of an entrance fee.
Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific and PITTCON, the celebration aims to join local biotech company and university employees, investors, local officials and the public. In addition to the many park employees, Alachua’s own Mayor Gib Coerper, Commissioner Ben Boukari and City Manager Traci Cain all attended the event as well.
Vendors at the event were varied including an area credit union, hotel, Universal Studios Orlando, law firms, the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, scientific equipment companies and numerous biotech companies.
For the young at heart, the real highlight of the celebration came as tickets were drawn for winners of several prizes, the most coveted of which was a Nintendo Wii.
For Alachua, Progress Corporate Park is a big deal and biotech is a big business and one that is proving its resistance to a down economy. With dozens of companies employing more than 1,100 people at the park, the biotech community’s impact on the area has been substantial according to Patti Breedlove, Associate Director for the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator Program.
Breedlove, who has been tallying and tracking the park’s statistics, said Alachua provides a unique setting that attracts some entrepreneurs in the biotech arena.
In addition to the incubator program and facility, run in part by Breedlove on behalf of the University of Florida, the Alachua setting also features a new, state-of-the-art Santa Fe College (SFC) training center specializing in related science studies.
Meanwhile, just down the road at Santa Fe High School, students are learning the basics to get them started in the field at the Institute for Biotechnology housed in a new science building. These factors, coupled with a host of biotech companies already at the corporate park, are making Alachua an ideal location for other similar companies seeking a new home with room for expansion.
Breedlove said she hopes to continue fostering and broadening the relationship between the local biotech industry and City of Alachua.
“The future success of the park is tied to the future of the City of Alachua and vice-versa,” Breedlove said.
# # #
E-mail editor@
alachuatoday.com
Cont: Breedlove sees corporate park’s and city’s success tied to each other
, the industry is proving its resistance to a down economy. employed among the dozens of companies at Progress Corporate Park, according to Patti Breedlove, Associate Director for the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator Program.
Known as the Charles R and Nancy V. Perry Center for Emerging Technologies, the SFC Alachua campus is the location where one of the colleges first bachelor’s degree programs is being offered. It aims to provide training for students who might work at one of the area’s many biotechnology companies.
in While the unemployment rate
Biotech industry is bustling, poised to grow more
Published: Friday, May 14, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 11:52 p.m.( page of 2 )
ALACHUA - Attendees pointed to the size of the seventh annual Celebration of Biotechnology on Thursday as evidence of how far the industry has come and its importance to the economies of Florida and the region.
When the first event was held in the lobby of the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator, "we were floored and overjoyed that 40 people showed up," said Sue Washer, president of Applied Genetic Technologies Corp.
In recent years, more than 500 attendees and 60 vendors have filled tents on the grounds of Progress Corporate Park for BioFlorida's trade event, according to the organization's president and CEO, Russell Allen.
That makes it larger than the association's annual trade show, he said, because "the largest concentration of members are here in this park."
That concentration draws vendors who supply items such as lab supplies from across the country.
SGS, a Belgium-based company with U.S. headquarters in Maryland, had a table at the event and hopes to provide clinical trial services to companies coming out of the incubator, said Rafael Semidei, business development manager.
Today, companies like RTI Biologics, Exactech and MRI Devices anchor about 40 other startup companies with about 2,000 high-wage jobs combined.
The jobs are not just for people with technical degrees, Washer said. As the companies mature, they provide manufacturing and office jobs.
Santa Fe College biotech students are finding jobs in hospitals and medical companies locally and statewide in what is projected to be one of the most in-demand fields, according to Kelly Gridley, director of biotechnology programs.
SFC has 120 biotech students - its highest ever - in its new 24,000-square-foot facility that opened across the street from Progress Corporate Park last August.
After three years in the incubator, Washer's own company - which is developing gene therapy for inherited emphysema and blindness - received venture capital funding, a rarity at the time.
"Now it's fairly routine," Washer said, with about 25 major venture capital firms invested in local companies.
The effect of that is to encourage local angel investors - who fund startups at earlier stages - so "that the next level of investors will come and fund the companies that they feed," Washer said.
Synogen is a private angel fund and incubator program for medical technology companies created by the founders of successful biotech companies, such as RTI Biologics, who are investing their wealth to grow more companies.
Three of its portfolio companies - Xhale, AxoGen and Optima Neuroscience - have grown and graduated from the incubator, and its newest company - Registerpatient.com - just launched its Web-based patient registration and insurance verification program, according to President Stephanie Warrington.
Warrington, who is also on the board of BioFlorida, said that as much as biotechnology has grown in Florida, it is still just in its infancy.
"I think it's set to explode as the economy improves," she said.
From inside the walls of the massive tents erected for the seventh annual Celebration of Biotechnology last Thursday, one would never have known Florida’s unemployment rate was hovering around 12 percent. The annual event attracted more than 500 people who browsed over 70 vendor tables highlighting local biotechnology and affiliated companies.
Last week’s event was more successful than in prior years, probably due in large part to new features including a presentation tent, park bus tours, local food vendors and the elimination of an entrance fee.
Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific and PITTCON, the celebration aims to join local biotech company and university employees, investors, local officials and the public. In addition to the many park employees, Alachua’s own Mayor Gib Coerper, Commissioner Ben Boukari and City Manager Traci Cain all attended the event as well.
Vendors at the event were varied including an area credit union, hotel, Universal Studios Orlando, law firms, the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce, scientific equipment companies and numerous biotech companies.
For the young at heart, the real highlight of the celebration came as tickets were drawn for winners of several prizes, the most coveted of which was a Nintendo Wii.
For Alachua, Progress Corporate Park is a big deal and biotech is a big business and one that is proving its resistance to a down economy. With dozens of companies employing more than 1,100 people at the park, the biotech community’s impact on the area has been substantial according to Patti Breedlove, Associate Director for the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator Program.
Breedlove, who has been tallying and tracking the park’s statistics, said Alachua provides a unique setting that attracts some entrepreneurs in the biotech arena.
In addition to the incubator program and facility, run in part by Breedlove on behalf of the University of Florida, the Alachua setting also features a new, state-of-the-art Santa Fe College (SFC) training center specializing in related science studies.
Meanwhile, just down the road at Santa Fe High School, students are learning the basics to get them started in the field at the Institute for Biotechnology housed in a new science building. These factors, coupled with a host of biotech companies already at the corporate park, are making Alachua an ideal location for other similar companies seeking a new home with room for expansion.
Breedlove said she hopes to continue fostering and broadening the relationship between the local biotech industry and City of Alachua.
“The future success of the park is tied to the future of the City of Alachua and vice-versa,” Breedlove said.
# # #
E-mail editor@
alachuatoday.com
Cont: Breedlove sees corporate park’s and city’s success tied to each other
, the industry is proving its resistance to a down economy. employed among the dozens of companies at Progress Corporate Park, according to Patti Breedlove, Associate Director for the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator Program.
Known as the Charles R and Nancy V. Perry Center for Emerging Technologies, the SFC Alachua campus is the location where one of the colleges first bachelor’s degree programs is being offered. It aims to provide training for students who might work at one of the area’s many biotechnology companies.
in While the unemployment rate
Biotech industry is bustling, poised to grow more
By This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published: Friday, May 14, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 11:52 p.m.
( page of 2 )
ALACHUA - Attendees pointed to the size of the seventh annual Celebration of Biotechnology on Thursday as evidence of how far the industry has come and its importance to the economies of Florida and the region.
When the first event was held in the lobby of the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator, "we were floored and overjoyed that 40 people showed up," said Sue Washer, president of Applied Genetic Technologies Corp.
In recent years, more than 500 attendees and 60 vendors have filled tents on the grounds of Progress Corporate Park for BioFlorida's trade event, according to the organization's president and CEO, Russell Allen.
That makes it larger than the association's annual trade show, he said, because "the largest concentration of members are here in this park."
That concentration draws vendors who supply items such as lab supplies from across the country.
SGS, a Belgium-based company with U.S. headquarters in Maryland, had a table at the event and hopes to provide clinical trial services to companies coming out of the incubator, said Rafael Semidei, business development manager.
Today, companies like RTI Biologics, Exactech and MRI Devices anchor about 40 other startup companies with about 2,000 high-wage jobs combined.
The jobs are not just for people with technical degrees, Washer said. As the companies mature, they provide manufacturing and office jobs.
Santa Fe College biotech students are finding jobs in hospitals and medical companies locally and statewide in what is projected to be one of the most in-demand fields, according to Kelly Gridley, director of biotechnology programs.
SFC has 120 biotech students - its highest ever - in its new 24,000-square-foot facility that opened across the street from Progress Corporate Park last August.
After three years in the incubator, Washer's own company - which is developing gene therapy for inherited emphysema and blindness - received venture capital funding, a rarity at the time.
"Now it's fairly routine," Washer said, with about 25 major venture capital firms invested in local companies.
The effect of that is to encourage local angel investors - who fund startups at earlier stages - so "that the next level of investors will come and fund the companies that they feed," Washer said.
Synogen is a private angel fund and incubator program for medical technology companies created by the founders of successful biotech companies, such as RTI Biologics, who are investing their wealth to grow more companies.
Three of its portfolio companies - Xhale, AxoGen and Optima Neuroscience - have grown and graduated from the incubator, and its newest company - Registerpatient.com - just launched its Web-based patient registration and insurance verification program, according to President Stephanie Warrington.
Warrington, who is also on the board of BioFlorida, said that as much as biotechnology has grown in Florida, it is still just in its infancy.
"I think it's set to explode as the economy improves," she said.