Palm Beach County has been branded as an up-and-coming tech hotbed, according to a Forbes magazine March 10th article titled, Top 10 Up-And-Coming Tech Cities. Forbes ranked Palm Beach County in the top three locations with the most promising innovation frontier.
“Palm Beach County’s reputation for cutting edge biotech and life science research is on solid ground and gaining momentum,” said Kevin Johns, Palm Beach County Director of Economic Development.
The County’s landing of the Scripps Research Institute and the Max Planck Institute are stirring investment in biotechnology start-ups. The Palm Beach County employment in this arena is ticking upwards, the bioscience career academies are full and the benefits to the tax base will begin to see positive revenues from these investments steadily over the next 30 years.
Relationships among patents determined the ranking: the greater the increase in the number of important patents, the higher it ranked. The Forbes article noted that the most important patents are generally referenced by other inventors in the field when they filed for their own patents.
“It is great to be appreciated by Forbes Magazine in its new national rankings. Next, we want to be in the top international rankings. The County’s strategy to become a first class knowledge based economy is becoming a reality,” said Johns. “Palm Beach County’s motto ‘The Best of Everything’ now includes high tech innovation and intellectual property.”
Building biotechnology businesses in Palm Beach County with highly educated, highly motivated people who appreciate our quality of life is helping to bring investors into the area. As a result, the County is generating a high skill, high wage employment base for the future.
For example, look at the Enterprise Development Corporation (EDC), a non-profit organization that assists emerging science and technology companies, said Jane Teague, Executive Director of the Boca Raton-based EDC.
“Commercialization of new discoveries is working well in Palm Beach County,” she said. “The EDC has helped high-tech companies to create nearly 50 new jobs, and retained over 360 existing jobs since January 2007.”
The County matched State funding for the EDC startup to help diversify the economy. For more information on the EDC, go to www.edc-tech.org or call (561) 620-8494.
For more information on the high tech industry, please call Maggie Smith, Palm Beach County Economic Development Office at (561)355-3624.
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