Florida's Biotech Workforce Grows by 18%

WEST PALM BEACH - Florida has a large employment base in both the agricultural feedstock and chemicals subsector and the medical devices and equipment subsector with more than 5 percent of national employment. The State has had strong overall job growth in three of its bioscience subsectors and the full industry has outpaced national growth since 2001, adding 18 percent to its employment base. Academic research expenditures in biosciences were $902 million in 2008, heavily concentrated in the medical sciences, and growing somewhat faster than the national average.

Florida has a strong presence in the bioscience workforce context, ranking sixth nationally in both postsecondary bioscience degrees generated and in bioscience‐related occupational employment. The State’s biomedical institutions hosted 895 clinical trials in 2009. The $810 million in bioscience venture capital investments in Florida during the last six years were made most heavily in medical/health services followed by medical therapeutics. The 3,141 patents issued were most commonly in surgical and medical instruments.

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