Tech and Biotech: 2015 biotech cluster rankings stiff Madison

Tech and Biotech: 2015 biotech cluster rankings stiff Madison

From the “be careful what you wish for” file …

Madison is nowhere to be found on a list of the top life sciences clusters in the U.S., and that could be disappointing to some.

But the ranking also lists rental prices for biotech space, and locals can breathe a sigh of relief they don’t have to pay some of those hefty prices.

Jones Lang LaSalle, a Chicago real estate and investment management firm, is out with its 2015 Life Sciences Outlook, pegging the top 17 cities.

The Boston area is No. 1, followed by Raleigh-Durham; the San Francisco Bay area; San Diego; and New York City.

In the Midwest, Minneapolis is No. 9; Indianapolis, No. 16; and the metro Chicago area is No. 17.

The rankings are based on factors such as employment concentration and growth; concentration of establishments; funding from venture capital and from the National Institutes of Health; and life sciences patents.

Aaron Olver, managing director of University Research Park, said he’s surprised the Madison area did not make the cut. “Madison’s life sciences cluster is growing. We’ve actually outpaced the nation in terms of growth,” he said.

Olver cited the Harvard Cluster Mapping Project. It says in 1998, the biopharmaceutical cluster in Dane County was 2.5 times denser than the nation as a while, and by 2012, it was almost seven times greater, he said.

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