Magic Pot of Jobs

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, joining state and local officials for the grand opening of Scripps Florida’s state-of-the-art biomedical research facility, praised the research facility for helping Florida become a leader in biotechnology and research. Continuing his focus on Florida’s economy, Governor Crist emphasized that the company will create new jobs in Florida and economic opportunities for Sunshine State residents.

“The opening of Scripps Florida marks an important milestone in the Sunshine State’s development as a biotech hub and as a global leader in medical research and development,” said Governor Crist. “Florida’s economy will benefit from the collaboration among Scripps Florida and the state’s other biotech companies, and the result will be important advances that improve the health and quality of life for everyone.”

Scripps Florida – a division of The Scripps Research Institute headquartered in La Jolla, California – is a 350,000 square-foot biomedical research facility next to the Florida Atlantic University campus in Jupiter in Palm Beach County. Scripps Florida focuses on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development.

Nearly 300 faculty members, scientific, technical and administrative staff currently work at the facility. Scripps Florida will create 6,500 new jobs during the next 15 years and position the state as a leader in biomedical research. An analysis conducted by two of Florida’s top economists predicts the Scripps facility will generate about $1.6 billion in additional income to Floridians and boost the state’s Gross Domestic Product by $3.2 billion in the next 15 years.

Scripps Florida’s startup costs were supported by $310 million in federal economic development funds approved by the Florida Legislature. Palm Beach County also provided $187 million in construction and related costs, and Florida Atlantic University provided temporary facilities and land for the permanent institute.

Scripps Florida’s three primary areas of focus are biomedical research, advanced technologies and drug discovery. For example, Scripps Florida researchers are targeting diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, as well as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

Tags: Florida Jobs

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.