SOUTHEAST REGIONAL REVIEW -- Site Selection magazine, July 2006

Florida Counties Join Forces to Lure R&D Investment

t's not that "Florida's Treasure Coast" isn't effective as a slogan for attracting tourists to Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin Counties. It is. But it doesn't do much for attracting the types of enterprises the economic development community in the area would

Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce recently opened the Kight Center for Emerging Technologies (above). The center features state- of- the- art labs and classrooms and enables the college to broaden its high- tech curriculum. The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HOBI), also in Fort Pierce, is a leading research center with some of the world's most advanced ocean science laboratories. A partner with Florida Atlantic University (FAU), the institute builds and maintains manned submersibles, like the one below, for deep-water research. In addition to HOBI and FAU, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University and bio-tech industries in southern Florida are helping establish the Research Coast's Center for Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology.

like to see investing there.
Once the Jupiter, Fla., location was finalized for the Scripps Institute's new research center in Palm Beach County, the three counties found themselves nestled conveniently between what could easily become a hotbed of life science activity to the south and an already active aerospace cluster to the north. Titusville, Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center are just north of the Treasure Coast. It rapidly became apparent to community leaders in Vero Beach, Port St. Lucie, Stuart, Fort Pierce and other towns that it was up to the three counties in between to not be left out of what would likely become a boom in scientific investment in the area.

Already Noticed

   Thus was born the Research Coast, a united effort on the part of Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin Counties to brand their area in such a way that investors in R&D, high- tech, life science and related sectors would not overlook the region, but rather choose the region for what it can and does bring to the table.
   With so many tourism- related assets within a two-hour drive – the Orlando theme parks, the Everglades, the countless beaches and golf courses – it's not hard to overlook the research- related facilities located throughout the region.
   These include the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service Horticultural Research Laboratory in Ft. Pierce. This center is at the forefront of researching citrus genetics in the hope of finding a cure for citrus canker, which has caused untold acres of citrus trees to be destroyed. The University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences operates the Indian River Research and Education Center nearby. The two institutions are the anchors of a new, 1,600- acre (648- hectare) St. Lucie County Research and Education Park dedicated to agricultural research and education.
   The park may also be home to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facility – the 500,000- sq.-ft. (202,500- sq.-m.) National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), which will require a 30- acre (12- hectare) site. St. Lucie County submitted its expression of interest for the facility to the DHS in March. According to DHS's Office of Research and Development, NBAF will be an integrated human, foreign animal and zoonotic disease research, development and testing facility that will support the complementary missions of the DHS, USDA and the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

One Coast to the Other

   The park might also be selected as the location of a new facility to be opened by The Burnham Center for Medical Research, based in La Jolla, Calif. The Research Coast and a site in the Orlando area are believed to be the finalists for the new facility; winning the Burnham project would go a long way towards cementing the Research Coast moniker in the minds of similar investors.
   Most universities in the state would be hard pressed to compete with the research capabilities available at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce. A Homeland Security Training Center is due to be complete in 2008, which should be of interest to those reviewing possible sites for the NBAF. The Kight Center for Emerging Technologies opened recently, providing lab and classroom facilities for the study of electronics, photonics, optics, robotics and other disciplines. The college plans to open a medical school within a year.
   Similarly, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is emerging as a leading center for biotechnology research. The FAU/Scripps Research Facility at FAU's Jupiter campus is the temporary home of Scripps' researchers until the main facility is complete. Biological Sciences is FAU's second largest major in terms of enrollment after elementary education. And FAU is in the midst of constructing the Marine Science Partnership Building in conjunction with the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) based in Fort Pierce. HBOI is involved in a wide range of marine research initiatives, not the least of which is development of deep-sea, manned submersibles.

— Mark Arend