You want to see a cluster? Come see the life-science crowd in the heart of North Carolina.
Commercial buildings in the Research Triangle area are more likely to house life-science companies than anywhere in America, according to a study just released by a global real estate firm.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2012 Life Sciences Cluster Report put the Raleigh-Durham area ahead of Greater Boston, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay area, the suburban Maryland/Washington D.C. area – all 21 of the nation’s top life-science clusters.
The report reiterated the well-known fact that North Carolina trails California and Massachusetts in the total number of life-science companies and workers. And it also reinforced the fact that those are the only two states with those bigger numbers.
“Small start-ups and incubator groups tend to make up the majority of life sciences occupiers in the Raleigh-Durham cluster,” says the report. “Many are spin-offs out of the university system that migrate into RTP with hopes of gaining funding support to continue their research work. As a result, most requirements and availabilities tend to be smaller in nature, rather than large needle movers.”
Jones Lang called the Triangle a “hotbed of life science companies.” It said the region “acts as an anchor for the industry, taking advantage of the R&D talent in the region as well as the nation’s largest concentration of contract research organizations.”
“Large private institutions, like the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, provide links among academic, business and civic leaders, and funding programs to support the commercialization of innovations,” the report says.
It also names NCBIO — the North Carolina Biosciences Organization – as the state’s representative of more than 150 companies in state and federal legislation and regulatory affairs.
Jones Lang recognized North Carolina’s unparalleled bioscience diversity, saying much of the state’s current large-scale growth “is fueled by ag-tech companies such as Syngenta, BASF, Monsanto and Bayer CropScience.”
“Overall,” the report concluded, “the Research Triangle Region is expected to remain fairly stable during the coming quarters,” and the region’s life-science market “should continue to have a stable presence of life sciences players in the year to come.”
The Chicago-based global financial and professional services firm has North Carolina offices in Charlotte and Raleigh providing office leasing, facility management, project management, retail leasing and management, and investment services.
(C) NC Biotech Center
Editor’s note: Jim Shamp is Director of Public Relations for the N.C. Biotechnology Center. He writes and edits news and other web copy, brochures and other internal and external Biotechnology Center materials, and supports the Corporate Communications unit’s marketing and media relations activities.
