A new EDC program celebrates strides in building the region’s life science industry.

More often than not, economy building takes a circuitous route rather than a direct path. Industry sectors build over time, and sometimes even unnoticed, until they begin to reach a measure of critical mass.

Indeed, it’s not often that communities begin to transform their economies with the speed and laser focus witnessed in metro Orlando’s emergence as a center for health services and life science research.Today, the region is one of only two communities worldwide actively building a “medical city”; the other is Dubai. With almost $2 billion in construction currently under way at Lake Nona’s new Science and Technology Park, the eyes of the life science community worldwide are now on Orlando.

Clearly, what is occurring at Lake Nona is extraordinary. The Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research are already open and operating. The new University of Central Florida College of Medicine, whose first class is now hard at work in temporary classrooms at the Central Florida Research Park, will soon be completed, quickly followed by the openings of  MD Anderson Orlando’s Cancer Research Institute, a new VA Medical Center, Nemours Children’s Hospital, the University of Florida Research Center and more.

Such success in such a short time is unprecedented.

What should not be overlooked, however, is that much of this success is attributable to the strong, already established foundation upon which the region is building. While the state of Florida University System’s Board of Governors’ approval for the UCF College of Medicine served as the final impetus in Burnham’s decision to locate its East Coast operations to Orlando, what attracted the organization to explore the region in the first place was a variety of important and related assets:

• Metro Orlando is home to two of the nation’s largest hospital systems — Florida Hospital and Orlando Health.
• Metro Orlando is home to Florida’s Blood Centers, the largest independent blood center in the state and the fourth-largest in the nation.
• Metro Orlando is an established hub for large pharmaceutical distribution companies, such as CuraScript and Axium Healthcare Pharmacy.
• Metro Orlando has attracted entrepreneurs and has helped nurture and support the pioneering advances of companies like VaxDesign Corp., CORD:USE and Triad Isotopes.
• Metro Orlando’s hometown university, UCF, the fifth-largest university in the nation, is recognized for its research collaborations and mutually beneficial partnerships with industry.

Recognizing the significance of these assets is the goal of a new program established by bioOrlando, a council managed by the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission. Called Medical Markers, the program is designed to both honor and visually identify the medical, research and biotech companies that are the cornerstone of metro Orlando’s burgeoning life science industry.

bioOrlando’s inaugural class of Medical Marker recipients was introduced last month at the EDC’s annual William C. Schwartz Industry Innovation Awards.

Medical Marker Recipients

The inaugural class of Medical Marker recipients was announced on Sept. 17 at the Metro Orlando EDC’s annual William C. Schwartz Industry Innovation Awards.

The honorees:

• CORD:USE
• CuraScript
• .decimal
• Emergency Medical Learning Resource Center
• Florida Hospital/Adventist Health
• Florida’s Blood Centers
• Health Central
• National Training Center
• Orlando Health
• Tavistock Group
• Triad Isotopes
• VaxDesign Corp.
• Virtual Reality Medical Center

Thirteen companies, representing each county in a four-county region, received the “inaugural class” designation. The honorees were identified as founding members of the region’s life science community and leaders in scientific research and medical technology, as well as companies that have contributed substantially to the evolution of the industry in Central Florida.

What these companies represent is significant and worth repeating: While the rest of the world is just beginning to recognize the region’s strengths as a life science destination, a well-established foundation exists upon which this industry can and will grow. The inaugural class of Medical Markers celebrates the organizations that brought metro Orlando to the dance.

There will be many more Medical Marker designations to come. The initial presentation at the EDC’s Innovation Awards event was just the first in an ongoing recognition program of bioOrlando. In the months and years ahead, Medical Markers will be presented at groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings and bioOrlando gatherings, serving as a very visual sign of the growing impact that the life science industry has on the region’s economy.

The growing bio and life science industry is an important economic driver for the community, and in fact, it has positioned metro Orlando to better weather the current economic decline. Despite tough times, this region’s determination to build and support this industry has not wavered.

More than anything, that is what the EDC’s Medical Markers program is all about: generating awareness and pride in what this industry means to the community.

Editor’s note: This article was produced in partnership with the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.