The life sciences industry – which includes biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, life sciences R&D, medical devices and health-care services – has been highly sought by economic development agencies for its high-paying jobs and tremendous growth potential.
The report compares Greater Philadelphia to 10 other metropolitan areas considered to be the leading life sciences clusters in the U.S. and ranks them based on employment, research and development capacity, output, work force, investment and dozens of other measures.
Here is the Overall Composite Index ranking:
An executive summary of the report is available here and individual data rankings and tables for each of the 11 metros are available above.
The report was released at the 2009 BIO International Convention and updates the Institute’s 2005 study of the U.S. top life sciences clusters.
The study, sponsored BioAdvance, PhRMA, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Select Greater Philadelphia, BioNJ, Delaware BioScience Association, Greater Philadelphia Life Sciences Congress and Pennsylvania Bio. The purpose of the study was to define Greater Philadelphia’s opportunities and challenges in life sciences by measuring the region’s progress since the 2005 study, and to serve as a guide for strategic planning for further development of the sector.
The life sciences sector continues to show promise based on its ability to innovate, creating new products and services, and based on growing demand from an aging and increasingly unhealthy population. In addition to the sector’s internal job-building capacity, it fosters a tremendous amount of related local economic activity.
