ommunities that got a jump start on establishing a life sciences cluster are benefiting from their foresight even in lean economic times. Well-established clusters in San Diego, metro D.C. and Boston will still be centers of life science innovation and capitalization for years to come. But new centers are emerging all the time, with those that got going sooner rather than later at the forefront.
        In 1990, the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), a consortium of business, public and academic parties dedicated to leveraging the research resources of the state's universities to promote economic development, identified biotechnology as one of three strategic areas of specialization; advanced communications and environmental technologies are the other two. GRA has invested US$150 million in bioscience research centers and institutes in Atlanta, home of the American Cancer Society and the Center for Disease Control.
        More than $500 million is invested in the bioscience industry annually in Atlanta, according to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. In September 2002, the chamber announced the formation of the Metro Atlanta Biosciences Council to focus on growing the area's bioscience industry in the next 10 years to double the number of companies. Metro Atlanta today is home to more than 200 bioscience companies that employ more than 10,000 people. The Atlanta area is the headquarters of Pharma, Merial and Serologicals, among other life science companies.