News

BioScience - Industry Impact is Tremendous

Broward County ’s Bioscience companies are engaged in research & development to commercialize products to service the medical niche market of cardiovascular diseases. It is estimated that 58 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease, one in six Americans have some form of arthritis and over 90 million suffer from chronic pain. Each year cancer claims the lives of 563,000 Americans and 960,000 die from cardiovascular disease even though great strides have been made in the discovery of new therapies to treat these diseases. With Palm Beach County’s recent Scripps Institute success story, Broward County stands to gain opportunities in growing a “Bioscience Corridor” similar to the InternetCoast.

Economists and biomedical technology experts including those at The Wall Street Journal, the Federal Reserve, Ernest and Young and the New Economy Strategies, Inc., indicate the biomedical technology industry has become a major force in national and international economies.

Broward County is home to ANDRX the nation’s largest manufacturer of generic drugs. The Tri-County area is also home for nearly all of Florida’s pharmaceutical manufacturers (e.g. IVAX, Kirk & Kos Pharmaceuticals, etc). Other stellar Bioscience companies located in Broward County are: BioHeart Inc.,GMP Companies Inc., Goodwin Biotechnology Inc., Sunol Molecular Corporation, Viragen Inc., and Viradex Inc.

Business Development

The Broward County Commission’s commitment to economic development is consistent and firm. Enhancing Economic Development is one of the Commission’s five strategic goals. An International Trade Desk has been established and the County has participated in a number of trade missions overseas.

The Office of Economic Development (OED) has assumed a lead role in developing a County strategy for the growing bio-technology and bio-sciences industry. With the help of the private sector and educational institutions, Broward County stands ready to assist businesses in relocating to Broward and increasing economic opportunities.

Last year alone, five companies relocated or expanded their operations in the County and received direct assistance from the Board of County Commissioners. These companies are generating $28 million in new capital investment.

Twenty-one municipalities were assisted by OED with local business expansion, retention and domestic and international recruitment.

Seven municipalities were assisted by OED on 10 local projects encompassing 1,000 undeveloped acres. The projects included local industrial parks, regional County parks, and town centers.

The scope of services included demographic and market studies, economic impact studies, and resource identification.

Overall, the OED directly assisted 128 companies in fiscal year 2003 for relocation, attraction, expansion and retention that resulted in:

• 962 new jobs
• 1,741 jobs retained
• approximately 300,000-square-feet of new warehouse and office space built or absorbed.

The OED created an international protocol/trade desk officer position to attract and establish trade, commerce and investment to Broward County.
This past year, the Office of Economic Development conducted:

• Four exporting/importing seminars for Broward County businesses.
• Six trade missions to Mexico, Spain, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Brazil, and South Africa.
• 19 inbound trade delegations comprised of government and businesses.

For more information, contact one of our economic development specialists at 954-357-6155.

“The worst of our problems is not that the old vision is fading. Old visions are always fading. The question is whether we have the lost capacity to generate a new vision — or the capacity to tolerate visions.” John W. Gardner, US administrator; Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1965-1968 VisionBROWARD is an economic development partnership with the citizens of Broward County to develop an economic development master plan for the future. This community and economic development partnerships consists of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, the Broward Alliance, and the Broward Workshop. Nova Southeastern University is the facilitor for VisionBROWARD.

VisionBROWARD will be used as a template for the economic development of Broward County. Through the participation of major organizations, government, and the private citizens of Broward County, VisionBROWARD has reached out to the community and developed Broward’s future economic growth.

The OED manages the VisionBROWARD initiative. If you have ever wanted to be a part of making history in Broward County, now is your chance.
Get involved, visit our web site www.visionbroward.org or contact Deborah Wilkinson, Project Manager for VisionBROWARD at 954-357-6155.

Announcements

Deborah Wilkinson was appointed as the 9th District Representative for Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward Counties to serve as a Board Member for the Florida Economic Development Council. This term will expire 2005.