AP Features, September 11th, 2007
Palm Beach County commissioners committed $87 million Tuesday toward luring a German biomedical research group to the area, part of a larger plan to create an extensive biotechnology hub in the region.
The Munich-based Max Planck Society is considering opening a 100,000 square-foot (9,290-sq. meter) research facility on Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus near the site where the Scripps Research Institute plans to locate.
The company is asking $190 million (euro137.44 million) for a new facility on 6 acres (2.4 hectares) of the FAU Jupiter campus alongside Scripps and to ramp up its facility and staff. The county has agreed to pay their share. But the state of Florida would have to put up $90 million (euro65.1 million) from the innovation fund for scientific research, meaning a final contract could be months away.
Local developer and commissioner Jess Santamaria said the business community should also contribute. He pledged $100,00 (euro7,234) for a Max Planck fund.
The Business Development Board projects Max Planck would generate $1.2 billion (euro870 million) for the county's economy over 20 years.
The society maintains 80 research institutes and other facilities devoted to studying evolutionary and cell biology, neuroscience and genetics, among other things, according to its Web site.
The Florida site would focus on research for medicine and bioengineering, according to the Business Development Board.
"Look worldwide. The cluster is at the heart of developing a knowledge-based economy," Max Planck President Peter Gruss said. "If you want to form a knowledge-based economy, what you need at the heart of the matter is scientific excellency."
The county spent more than $300 million (euro217 million) to bring Scripps to the area. The Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies then said it would build a research facility in Port St. Lucie, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Jupiter, and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research will put a facility in Orlando.
