Business Facilities -November 2008

The aging population is already influencing the future direction of the medical device industry due to its changing health needs and an accompanying shift in thinking on how and where seniors will be treated. Baby boomers are living longer lives than previous generations, requiring more sophisticated and longer-term healthcare. Not only are they living longer, this population of people wants to remain active well into their twilight years. Polymer-containing devices such as artery-opening stents, heart pacemakers, and hip replacements improve life quality for this growing population of older people. And then there are the profit opportunities offered by the $50 billion-per-year global medical device market as well. So one thing is certain—the demand for polymers will grow in tandem with the upsurge in medical device innovations driven by the needs of the aging population. According to Medical Product Outsourcing, medical device manufacturers should consider two main factors when deciding where to locate a new facility: 1) Proximity to a knowledgeable, highly trained and productive workforce; and 2) Being part of a cluster of other medical device or high-tech companies to share in the infrastructure built to support such industries (e.g. consultants, distribution channels, and networking opportunities). Here are the locations that are putting in place the incentives and innovations necessary to help your plastic medical device company succeed. medical device and drug research companies and laboratories. According to Dunn & Bradstreet, the region, which runs from Temecula and Murrieta in the south to Corona to Riverside and back down the fast-growing I-215 corridor to Temecula, is already home to an estimated 200 companies with sales of $1.5 billion and approximately 8,000 employees. In fact, Riverside County, CA: The Right Place at the Right Time All the pieces are in place in Riverside County, the heart of Inland Southern California, to support a growing cluster of biotech, P-2 the American Electronics Association (AeA), a trade association serving all sectors of the technology industry, recently completed a report that identified Riverside County and the surrounding region as having the fastest technological job growth in the nation in 2006. The California Healthcare Institute, the lobbying organization for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industry, reports that more than 225,000 Californians work in an industry that includes 2,500 companies engaged in some form of biomedical research or production— everything from selling beakers to inventing drugs. Not surprisingly, Riverside County boasts an available pool of skilled labor familiar with clean room policies, affordable real estate, innovative financing that includes two venture capital groups, special business zones, and easy access to other key Southern California and southwestern U.S. markets. Like real estate, the biotech business is all about location and being in the right place at the right time. “Clusters of existing and emerging science-based technologies are crucial factors in shaping the economic winners and losers of the first half of the 21st century,” according to a study by the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica-based think tank. One of the region’s biggest selling points is its skilled workforce. About one-quarter of its residents hold bachelor’s degrees and more than 35% are professionals and managers. “Riverside County’s workforce is our strongest asset that will help ensure a tech company’s success,” says Sarah Mundy, Deputy Director for Economic Development and a Workforce Development Board member for Riverside County. The built-in pool of homegrown workers has allowed large companies such as FFF Enterprises, Abbott (formerly Guidant), Watson Pharmaceuticals and Millipore (formerly Chemicon International) to prosper. “If you are going to locate a biotech company here, we already have people who live here who are knowledgeable,” says Bob Larson, former vice president of operations at Guidant’s sprawling Temecula plant, which employs more than 5,000. “All of the disciplines in the biotech industry are resident in the Abbott facility.” The critical educational infrastructure is also there to support and nurture technological development. From 2000 through 2006, the companies and research facilities in Riverside County produced more than 1,000 patents and spent upwards of $150 million on research and development during roughly the same timeframe. A S P E C I A L A D V E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N O F B U S I N E S S FA C I L I T I E S , M O D E R N P L A S T I C S , A N D M D & D I PHOTO CREDIT: DIGITAL STOCK

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Business Facilities -November 2008 Contents First Word Sanpshots Corporate Moves: Utah Kodak Develops a Megasite in Upstate New York Anatomy of a Deal: Studley Finds a New Space for Myspace Metro Spotlight: Johnson City, TN A Renaissance of Growth in Medical Plastics The Lone Star State Flexes Its Muscles Asia: A Portrait of Growth Sky's the Limit for High-tech in Arizona Corporate Moves: Pennsylvania Ohio Leads the Way Alabama's Tide Rolls to the Future IEDC 2008 Award Winners Advertiser Index Introducing Navigator Livexchange

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