YOUR PRESCRIPTION FOR SUCCESS - georgia.org€¦ · INTRODUCTION Georgia is a premier destination for innovative companies and ... Georgia’s collaborative environment is a catalyst

BIOSCIENCE INDUSTRY PROFILE

YOUR PRESCRIPTIONFOR SUCCESS

FOR mORE InFORmatIOn vIsIt georgiabiosciences.com

GEORGIA: CONNECTING INNOVATION AND SCIENCE TO THE WORLD Introduction

Georgia’s Bioscience Community

Georgia’s Bioscience Partnerships

Research University Programs

Georgia Collaborations

Bioscience Incubators

KEY ASSETS Workforce

Workforce Development

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Targeted Financial Incentives

Market Opportunities

Operating Cost Environment

Transportation and Logistics

Georgia’s International Advantage

Georgia’s Top International Investors

TABLE OF COntEnts

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INTRODUCTIONGeorgia is a premier destination for innovative companies and savvy entrepreneurs. Georgia’s bioscience industry cluster includes more than 300 multinational firms that enjoy the benefits of tax incentives, world-class research and renowned education institutions in the international epicenter of the Southeast.

Georgia’s collaborative environment is a catalyst for connecting a strong, pro-business network that includes public officials, business leaders, philanthropists and academia.

Connectivity is also demonstrated through Georgia’s robust logistics infrastructure and transportation system. Georgia is well connected to 80 international markets in 52 countries through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. These assets give Georgia companies a competitive edge in reaching the global market.

Georgia is home to 15 companies on the Fortune 500 list, as well as an impressive network of Fortune 500 headquarters including The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, UPS, Delta Air Lines, Aflac, NCR and AGCO.

GEORGIA’S BIOSCIENCE COMMUNITYGeorgia is dedicated to the growth and success of every company within the state’s bioscience community. The bioscience industry consists of many small and medium-sized companies, and also includes the North American headquarters of industry leaders including CIBA Vision, UCB and Merial.

Georgia: Connecting Innovation and Science to the World

“There has always been good science and engineering in Atlanta, but what has changed is the commercial mindset. Today, there are more

entrepreneurs working with scientists — and more scientists who are thinking entrepreneurially.”

- Garhend Kong, Partner, Intersouth Partners,

venture capital firm in Durham, N.C.

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Georgia’s diverse bioscience community includes pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and medical supply companies; emerging bioscience companies; contract laboratory, preclinical and clinical research organizations; targeted nonprofit organizations; world-class public and private research institutions and universities.

Medical and diagnostic laboratories comprise more than 54 percent of companies active in the life sciences industry in Georgia; research and development entities comprise 17.2 percent; medical devices and supplies manufacturers represent just less than 10 percent, with agricultural and pharmaceutical manufacturing firms providing the balance.

Atlanta is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For more than 60 years, the CDC has been at the forefront of protecting health and promoting quality of life worldwide through the prevention of disease, injury and disability. The CDC receives an estimated $9 billion in annual funding and employs more than 6,000 scientists and public health specialists.

Atlanta also hosts the headquarters of several national nonprofit organizations that focus on global health issues including the American Cancer Society, the Carter Center, the American Arthritis Foundation and CARE. Georgia’s network of nearly 200 hospitals offers some of the nation’s most advanced healthcare services and facilities. In addition to partnering with the state’s research universities, many of these hospitals and healthcare systems provide a robust environment for clinical trials.

GEORGIA’S BIOSCIENCE PARTNERSHIPSGeorgia’s bioscience community is supported through a tight network of institutions and organizations, including Georgia Bio, Georgia Research Alliance and the Georgia Cancer Coalition.

Georgia Bio (GaBio), the Life Sciences Partnership, represents the interests of Georgia companies, universities, research institutions, government groups and other industry associations involved in the discovery and application of bioscience products and related services. GaBio conducts business and economic development activities; advocates on behalf of the industry on public policy matters; educates the public about the benefits of bioscience research and product development; and provides a network for the exchange of ideas, information and opportunities.

The Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) brings together Georgia’s research universities, business community and state government to create opportunities that promote the growth of Georgia’s economy through

scientific discovery. GRA’s programs help Georgia’s research universities achieve their full potential through the recruitment of world-class scientific talent, the development of sophisticated research infrastructure, and the commercialization of university research and development.

The physical improvements, and particularly the top-tier scientific talent the GRA has brought to the state, have helped catapult Georgia into top national rankings. In all, GRA’s programs have generated some $2.6 billion in new investment in the state, helped create more than 200 new companies and yielded more than 5,700 new science and technology jobs.

The heart of the GRA is the nationally-recognized GRA Eminent Scholars® program. These renowned scientists lead groundbreaking R&D programs that can help industry tackle some of its greatest scientific challenges. To date, the program has recruited more than 64 GRA Eminent Scholars in diverse fields including vaccine development, molecular biotechnology, neuroscience, immunology, drug discovery, medical imaging, animal health, bioenergy and biomedical engineering.

The Georgia Research Alliance VentureLab program helps build high-growth companies around laboratory discoveries. VentureLab seeks out research innovations at GRA’s partner universities, assesses their commercial potential and provides resources to suitably address the management, market and technology risks associated with new ventures.

The Georgia Cancer Coalition (GCC) leads the state’s effective use of resources to improve cancer prevention, early detection, screening and treatment. The coalition offers access to quality cancer care and treatment, caregiver training, public education and cutting-edge cancer research. Partners include Georgia’s medical schools and research universities, the public health system, the national headquarters of the CDC and the American Cancer Society.

The GCC established the Distinguished Cancer Clinicians and Scientists Program as the cornerstone of its research agenda. The goal of the program is to recruit leading and nationally renowned cancer clinicians and scientists who are engaged in various areas of cancer research to Georgia. The selection of the scholars is closely aligned with the National Cancer Institute’s “Extraordinary Opportunities in Cancer Research,” which has identified areas of discovery that hold promise for making significant progress against all cancers.

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RESEARCH UNIVERSITY PROGRAMSEmory University, Georgia State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia, Georgia Health Sciences University, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and Mercer University are key centers and partners for bioscience research in a multitude of areas including immunology, cancer, AIDS, vaccine development and neuroscience.

Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center encompasses leading biomedical research centers including the National Cancer Institute-designated Winship Cancer Institute, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Emory Vaccine Center.

Yerkes National Primate Research Center developed the first transgenic non-human primate for Huntington’s disease. The Emory Vaccine Center, along with Yerkes, developed a leading HIV candidate vaccine licensed to Atlanta biotech company GeoVax. More than 94 percent of U.S. patients infected with HIV take one of several drugs developed at Emory.

The Emory Center for AIDS Research includes more than 120 scientists and clinicians studying HIV/AIDS and developing improved treatments. The Emory Transplant Center is one of the nation’s leaders in developing less toxic drugs for immune suppression in organ transplants and islet transplants to treat Type 1 diabetes. Scientists in the Emory-Georgia Institute of Technology Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence are developing advanced new tools for cancer detection and treatment. The Emory-led Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded partnership aimed at improving the translation of research discoveries into advanced clinical treatments.

Through patenting and licensing in Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer, 51 biotech start-up companies have resulted from Emory discoveries. Emory’s product pipeline includes more than 50 products in all stages of development and regulatory approval, with 32 having reached the marketplace and 8 more in human clinical trials. Over the past decade Emory has realized more than $764 million in licensing revenues, including $540 million in 2005 from future royalty payments from the HIV/AIDS drug Emtriva.

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The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation’s top research universities, distinguished by its commitment to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology. Supported by world-class research, partnerships and strong commercialization programs, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s life sciences research creates an interdisciplinary community for faculty and companies working together to solve human health challenges.

The Georgia Institute of Technology strongly encourages commercialization and direct industry partnerships. The Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) is a focal point for bioscience research and centers. IBB is headquarters for the Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory Center for Regenerative Medicine, the Stem Cell Engineering Center and the IBB Industry Partners Program. The Center for Innovative Cardiovascular Technologies is collaborating on projects with the Atlanta clinical community focused on minimally invasive cardiac therapies. The Center for Pharmaceutical Development, and the Center for Drug Design, Development and Delivery, work with industry partners to address manufacturing, formulation, analytical challenges and novel delivery strategies.

The Ovarian Cancer Institute is developing innovative diagnostics and treatments, and is impacting other types of cancer research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The Nanotechnology Research Center has a unique focus and capabilities to interface with researchers and bioscience companies. The Institute for Integrative BioSystems is the home for several research centers involved in systems biology, computational biology and bioinformatics. Healthcare@EI2 works directly with the State of Georgia and industry partners to advance the research and deployment of healthcare information technologies.

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the Georgia Institute of Technology’s science and technology incubator, operates multiple on-campus facilities for life science companies. Technology Enterprise Park, an 11 acre bioscience and technology research and development park located adjacent to the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, provides advanced technology business space and a collaborative environment.

The University of Georgia (UGA) advances biosciences from cost-effective, sustainable fuels to engineered crops that feed nations, from new vaccines that protect animal and human health to new therapies for treating devastating human diseases. As the state’s flagship institution of higher education, the University of Georgia is a top-tier research institution, with 16 colleges and schools located on three campuses. In addition to undergraduate and graduate education, UGA offers doctoral degrees in 89 areas and professional degrees in law, pharmacy and veterinary medicine.


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At UGA, research expertise and scientific innovation combine with commercialization to drive advances in agricultural biotechnology, crop varieties, veterinary medicine, pharmaceuticals and biologics, regenerative bioscience, biofuels and biomass and food safety.

UGA’s Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) is one of the most productive in the nation. In 2008, it ranked in the top 20 among colleges and universities nationwide, with licensing revenues approaching $24 million. The TCO holds more than 700 active licenses, and ranks third in the country in total number of license agreements. The GRA VentureLab at the University of Georgia provides companies with expertise to clear pathways from innovation to the marketplace. UGA has produced more than 100 spin-off companies.

The Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU), formerly known as the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, is one of the most prestigious and historic health sciences universities in the Southeast. Over GHSU’s history, the university has advanced medicine through discovery for more than 180 years. The nation’s 13th-oldest medical school is a leader in neurological, cardiovascular and immunological research. GHSU has experienced a 119 percent cumulative increase in National Institutes of Health funding during the past decade. The science faculty is ranked No. 2 in the nation among similar-sized institutions for per-capita research funding.

In recent years, the university has doubled its lab facilities, where scientists collaborate with top physicians through the Georgia Health Sciences University Discovery Institutes to find new treatments for diseases such as diabetes, stroke, hypertension and Alzheimer’s. The university’s 167,000 square-foot Cancer Research Center is linked to an outpatient center overseeing Phase I and II clinical trials, and positions GHSU to be a National Cancer Institute-designated center. Researchers developing technology at state-of-the-art facilities, such as GHSU’s Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine and the Immunotherapy Center, have access to a biotech incubator program.

The Georgia Health Sciences University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership enrolled the first class in fall 2010, further expanding the scope of education and research at both universities.

Georgia State University (GSU), in downtown Atlanta, is a leading urban research institution offering 50 degrees in 250 fields to 30,000-plus undergraduate and graduate students through full and part-time programs in six colleges.

GSU is becoming a leader in the fields of neuroscience, emerging and infectious disease research and disease detection, and drug design, with major centers of research in all three of these areas. The university’s Neuroscience Institute explores mysteries of the mind and brain with interdisciplinary research in biology, chemistry, psychology, physics, computer science, and mathematics and statistics.

GSU’s Viral Immunology Center conducts research on viruses that directly affect the central nervous system and pose a potential danger to humans. The goal of the center’s research is to understand the processes occurring during infection and how these can be circumvented following early identification and initiation of appropriate antiviral drugs and, ultimately, to develop effective vaccines to modulate or prevent progression of infection.

The Center for Biotechnology and Drug Design at GSU promotes research in three areas of natural sciences: vaccines and diagnostics, protein engineering, and drug design and synthesis. The center’s research ranges from the detailed structural analyses of small DNA molecules to the development of genetically engineered vaccines against viral infection.

The Parker H. Petit Science Center at GSU, opened in 2010, provides a home in downtown Atlanta for health-related research and a training ground for future health researchers. This 350,000 square-foot, $150 million facility is a significant economic engine for biotechnology in the state of Georgia.

The Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) was established in 1975 at Morehouse College as a two-year medical education program, with clinical training affiliations with the medical schools of Howard University, Emory University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 1981, it became an independently chartered, four-year health sciences institution. MSM is a member of the Atlanta University Center, the largest consortium of historically black institutions in the U.S.

The School of Medicine awards the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences (Ph.D.), Master of Public Health (M.P.H.), Master of Science in Clinical Research (M.S.C.R.), Master of Science in Biomedical Research (M.S.B.R.) and Master of Science in Biomedical Technology (M.S.B.T.) degrees. MSM holds the maximum eight-year accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medicine Education (L.C.M.E.) to grant medical degrees, and its M.P.H. program is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. Residency programs are accredited by the

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Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The school’s research stature and reputation have grown exponentially over the last decade. This growth was fueled by the investments from the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health to build a solid research infrastructure. In 2008, MSM received almost $25 million in NIH awards, ranking the institute third among the nation’s 18 community-based medical schools. The outcomes of its research activities have already resulted in the establishment of signature research centers, institutes and programs that include, most notably, the Neuroscience Institute, Clinical Research Center, National Center for Primary Care, Prevention Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Center for Excellence on Health Disparities.

The Mercer University School of Medicine carries out a rigorous biomedical research program on its Savannah, Macon and Atlanta campuses. In Savannah, research scientists conduct translational research in the areas of breast, endometrial, prostate, sarcoma, lung and pancreatic cancer. Many faculty members also work with the Laboratory Oncology Research Program in the Curtis and Elizabeth Anderson Cancer Institute/Memorial University Medical Center. Three faculty members are recognized as Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scientists. In addition to the cancer research focus, other faculty have active research programs in cardiovascular disease, hypertension, immunology and endocrinology. Department scientists have funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense,

American Cancer Society, Georgia Cancer Coalition and the American Heart Association, among others. On the School of Medicine’s Macon campus, faculty research focuses on the areas of translational cancer, cardiovascular and neuroscience research. Current funding sources include the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Heart Association and the Georgia Cancer Coalition.

At Mercer’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, located on the University’s Atlanta campus, researchers are conducting basic and clinical research on drugs used to fight diseases from cancer to heart disease to schizophrenia. In separate studies funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Georgia Cancer Coalition, Mercer pharmaceutical scientists are examining anti-cancer drugs to discover ways of increasing their anti-cancer effects while reducing their levels of toxicity to the body. Through a Georgia Research Alliance grant, the college’s Center for Drug Delivery Research is studying micro and nanosphere technology to find new and better ways of delivering medications. In clinical research, one scientist is studying how patients respond to a commonly prescribed life-saving cardiovascular medication based on interindividual genetic variability, while another is studying multidrug resistance in bacteria.

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GEORGIA COLLABORATIONSMany of the state’s universities work together through collaborative educational programs and research organizations. The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, which includes more than 75 faculty members in a wide variety of disciplines, is ranked second in the U.S. The Coulter Foundation provides translational research money for advancing innovations developed between the Georgia Institute of Technology biomedical faculty and Emory clinical faculty. The Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology houses an array of collaborative research initiatives including the Georgia Tech-Emory Center for Regenerative Medicine.

The Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI) will become a focal point of medical device design, prototyping and GMP manufacturing in the Southeast and globally in 2011. GCMI is a partnership between the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Georgia Research Alliance, Piedmont Hospital and Saint Joseph’s Translational Research Institute that will capture and accelerate the development of advanced medical products.

Other research centers are located throughout the state, many in collaboration with nearby institutions. For example, UGA and the Georgia Institute of Technology are among several universities partnering with the BioEnergy Science Center at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to seek new ways to produce new biofuels. Headquartered at Georgia State University, the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN) unites the resources of six metro Atlanta colleges and universities to build a program defining the interaction of brain processes and complex behaviors. Creating a cadre of interdisciplinary investigators focused on behavioral neuroscience and transferring relevant discoveries from the laboratory to the public. Also at Georgia State University is the

National B Virus Resource Center,

funded by the National Institutes of Health to provide around-the-clock diagnostic testing, educational resources and emergency information to requestors. The Diagnostic Laboratories are located within Georgia State’s Viral Immunology Center, which conducts leading-edge research on viral infections that cross between animals and humans.

The Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) is an inter-institutional magnet that concentrates basic, translational and clinical investigators, community clinicians, professional societies and industry collaborators in dynamic clinical and translational research projects. Emory has engaged two of its close academic partners in metropolitan Atlanta, Morehouse School of Medicine and the Georgia Institute of Technology, to form ACTSI. This partnership, a strategic multi-institutional alliance, offers compelling, unique and synergistic advantages.

Emory cardiologists and Georgia Institute of Technology biomedical engineers are working on advanced nanotechnologies focused on analyzing cardiovascular disease and developing methods to detect plaque buildup in blood vessels in its early stages.

The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Innovative Cardiovascular Technologies is working on projects with Emory, Saint Joseph’s Research Institute and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta that target minimally invasive cardiac therapies.

iResearchGeorgia is a searchable database of biomedical expertise at Georgia’s public and private research universities. The free, online database provides access to profiles, published papers, National Institutes of Health grant abstracts and patent information of 800 scientific leaders across the state. Bioscience companies will find it a useful tool for forming R&D collaborations.

“The pipeline of new bioscience companies is driven in large part by robust research and development programs at Georgia’s research

universities. This same breakthrough R&D helps Georgia’s established companies develop new products and reach new markets worldwide.” - Mike Cassidy, President and CEO,

Georgia Research Alliance

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BIOSCIENCE INCUBATORS The Georgia BioBusiness Center represents entrepreneurial life science activities at the University of Georgia. Companies include start-ups originating from university research and established companies working closely with UGA faculty.

The Georgia Center of Innovation for Life Sciences is a joint program of the state and the Life Science Business Development Center at Georgia Health Sciences University.

The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) is a nationally recognized science and technology incubator that helps Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build successful science-based companies. For 30 years, ATDC has provided strategic business advice, and connected companies to the people and resources they need to succeed. In 2010, ATDC was recognized by Forbes as one of the “top ten technology incubators changing the world.” ATDC is headquartered on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, with both office space and wet lab business incubator space available to companies.

ATDC provides specialized business resources by offering access to experienced industry leaders as advisors, coaches and mentors to assist faculty in the advancement of their innovations. The staff assists entrepreneurs and member companies with the technology, commercial assessment and development plans for medical devices and therapeutics.

The center created a “start-up ecosystem” that facilitates company formation and development. It leverages state seed fund grants offered through the GRA VentureLab program, helps small companies attract federal funding through the SBIR/STTR and provides connections to the angel or venture capital communities. The goals are to de-risk innovations and advance commercialization projects into successful life sciences companies. Since its inception, ATDC has attracted more than $1 billion in outside financing and graduated more than 120 companies.

CollabTech is a joint-venture business incubator that fosters collaboration between Georgia State University faculty and start-up biotechnology companies, nurturing them at a critical stage in their development. CollabTech features four biological applications-revolving laboratories and two chemical applications-revolving laboratories, and conference and office space.

Key Assets WORKFORCEOften recognized for its young and talented workforce, only 10.1 percent of Georgia’s population is 65 or older, a much smaller figure than the 12.8 percent of the

national population that has reached retirement age. Immigration is another factor augmenting Georgia’s population and contributing significantly to its diversity. Georgia recorded a 233 percent increase in its foreign-born population during the 1990s, and it was the third-largest gainer from secondary migration of the foreign born. This is significant because these long-term, foreign-born residents are choosing to move to Georgia from their initial points of entry into the United States. This trend has continued and has created a cultural diversity that encourages dialogue and collaboration.

The state’s excellent quality of life creates enhanced opportunities for companies to recruit management talent and technical personnel to Georgia. The moderate cost of living, mild climate and variety of cultural and recreational activities are appealing assets to executives seeking an attractive business location and a home for their employees and their families.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT Georgia’s Innovation Crescent is both a geographic area and a coalition of more than a dozen counties extending from Atlanta to Athens. Its entities are focused on life sciences and economic development, with specialized education, training and certification programs to ensure there is a skilled labor pool for highly-regulated bioscience clinical, research and manufacturing facilities.

The Georgia Bioscience Technology Institute (GBTI), a collaborative program of Athens Technical College, Gwinnett Technical College and the Atlanta Regional Workforce Board, received a $1.9 million U.S. Department of Labor Community-Based Job Training Grant in 2007. Through this grant, associate degree programs in bioscience and biotechnology at the institutions were expanded with new curricula and equipment, and an extensive teacher training and equipment loan program was established to serve middle and high school educators. The current GBTI programs will be enhanced by facility expansions recently completed at both ATC and GTC.

Leveraging the GBTI effort is the Innovation Crescent Work Ready Region program, a workforce investment strategy led by the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development that links workforce development, economic development, industry and education and aligns them to the economic needs of the state, its regions and local communities. The Innovation Crescent region has received nearly $1 million in grants from the state to increase the number of two and four-year students in majors aligned with the life sciences industry and develop documented career pathways leading to lifelong learning for emerging, entry-level and existing workers. Quick Start is Georgia’s internationally acclaimed provider of fully customized, strategic workforce solutions free-of-charge for qualified new, expanding and existing companies. Ranked No. 1 in the U.S.


for workforce training, Quick Start has delivered comprehensive workforce solutions for numerous global leaders in bioscience as they turn ideas into productsand build profitable biomanufacturing operations. Since 1967, Quick Start has trained 877,521 employees in 6,065 projects for industry-leading companies that include Quintiles Transnational, Kimberly-Clark, Merial, AngioDynamics, Pharma Tech and Dendreon.

Business Environment In the biotechnology business, the key to success often is finding an advantage that can put a company a step ahead of its competition. A company’s location, influenced by many factors, including the cost and efficiency of doing business, can offer that crucial competitive advantage. Each year a growing number of life sciences companies discover that Georgia offers an excellent business location in a welcoming and business-friendly environment.

Forbes Magazine in 2010 ranked the state eighth in the U.S. for its overall business environment. The state is committed to maintaining its reputation as a business-friendly environment by keeping tax rates low, and investing in transportation and education. Georgia practices fiscal conservatism: the state’s constitution does not allow deficit spending, which contributes to the state’s excellent financial health and “AAA” bonding rating from Wall Street.

Georgia offers generous tax incentives to all qualified new and expanding companies that create jobs. In addition to a low corporate income tax of just 6 percent, Georgia has a wide range of corporate tax credits that help companies further reduce their tax burden. Among these are highly popular single factor corporate tax and job tax credits, as well as programs that encourage R&D, employee retraining, child care and quality jobs establishment. Georgia provides employers the flexibility to hire qualified employees through the Right to Work and Employment at Will legislation to create a stable and favorable labor climate. In addition, Georgia companies can operate non-union facilities.

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TARGETED FINANCIAL INCENTIVES To help reduce a company’s operating costs, Georgia created a new tax credit and restructured an existing credit. In most cases, the tax credits can be claimed against payroll withholding, enabling eligible companies to preserve their operating capital and use those previously taxable funds to grow their business.

A legislative change to Georgia’s R&D tax credit made the existing credit stronger. It increases support to small, innovative companies by removing a requirement that a company have positive net income for the previous three years — a challenge for most emerging biotechnology companies. The R&D tax credit also is now tied to the standard federal calculation, which is measured by gross receipts, rather than the previous formula, which was based on taxable income.

In addition, new, emerging Georgia companies can accrue the R&D tax credit to use against payroll withholding, enabling them to withhold for their own purposes taxes they would normally submit to the state for payroll withholding. 10 percent of a company’s increased qualified research over its base may be claimed for the tax credit, per the standard federal calculation, and it may be claimed for 5 years.

The Quality Jobs tax credit, created in 2009, rewards companies that create jobs paying higher-than-average wages for the community in which they locate. Georgia companies that create at least 50 jobs within the first year, and pay wages at least 110 percent of the county average, are eligible for a tax credit of $2,500-$5,000 per job, per year, for up to five years, based on a scaled system. Once all earned credit has been applied against Georgia corporate income tax liability, excess credit may be monetized against employee withholding taxes (i.e., company retains quarterly employee withholding payments, as with the R&D tax credit).

The Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Qualified Machinery and Equipment allows a sales tax exemption for equipment purchased or leased when the equipment is used in the manufacturing process. Under certain conditions, primary material handling equipment (in warehouses and distribution centers); computer equipment; Class 100 (or less) clean room machinery, equipment and materials; and electricity used directly as a raw material in the manufacturing process can also be exempted.


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MARKET OPPORTUNITIESGeorgia’s geographic location as the business hub of the Southeastern U.S., the fastest-growing region in the nation, is an important factor in the state’s economic and bio-industry success. Through this central location and by leveraging the state’s advanced logistics infrastructure, companies in the bio industry enjoy ease of access to the rest of the United Sates and other global markets. The state has a population of 9,815,210 with a median household income of $49,347. In 2011 Georgia current-dollar GDP was $403 billion.

OPERATING COST ENVIRONMENTGeorgia’s vast range of available real estate at a moderate cost attracts businesses to locate in the state. Individuals and businesses alike benefit from the state’s healthy residential and commercial construction markets. Further, industrial space is readily available, and lease costs for commercial office and warehouse space are affordable. The affordability of land and

housing means Georgia residents can maintain a comparably high quality of life with lower salary requirements than other U.S. regions.

Abundant land, a productive workforce, an efficient transportation system and a pro-business environment keep Georgia’s wage rates, construction costs and taxes below the national average. The state’s six percent corporate income tax rate remains one of the lowest in the U.S., and has not changed since 1969. The following chart provides a sample of a few of the key costs that give Georgia its competitive advantage as a low operating cost environment.

1 Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA), 2010 - http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/corp_inc.pdf2NAI Brannen Goddard, 2010

COMPARATIVE OPERATING COSTS

Georgia Massachusetts California Illinois

State Corporate

Income Tax1 6% 8% 8.84% 9.5%

Lease/Rent

Cost per sq. ft.2$9.06 $15.87 $18.00 $10

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TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS As one of the key transportation centers in the United States and the premier logistics hub for the Southeast, Georgia maintains a transportation and logistics infrastructure that connects bioscience companies to suppliers, distributors and consumers worldwide.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest passenger, and most efficient, airport. It is the headquarters for Delta Air Lines and a main hub for Southwest Airlines, serving more than 92 million passengers per year and providing air service to 150 U.S. cities and more than 80 international destinations. From Atlanta, 80 percent of the U.S. is accessible within two hours by air.

Atlanta is also the Southeast’s gateway city to Europe, Asia and South America. Hartsfield-Jackson boasts the second-most nonstop international flights in the world, with destinations from Atlanta including:

Code Destination Weekly Departures

CANADA

YHZ Halifax, Candada* 1

YUL Montreal, Canada 30

YYZ Toronto, Canada 73

YVR Vancouver, Canada 1

MEXICO

CUN Cancun, Mexico 57

CZM Cozumel, Mexico 8

GDL Guadalajara, Mexico 16

MEX Mexico City D.F., Mexico 38

MTY Monterrey, Mexico 16

PVR Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 1

SJD San Jose del Cabo, Mexico 8

CENTRAL AMERICA

BZE Belize City, Belize 8

GUA Guatemala City, Guatemala 16

LIR Liberia, Costa Rica 10

MGA Managua, Nicaragua 8

PTY Panama City, Panama 8

RTB Roatan, Honduras 1

SJO San Jose, Costa Rica 16

SAP San Pedro Sula, Honduras 8

SAL San Salvador, El Salvador 8

TGU Tegucigalpa, Honduras 8

EUROPE

AMS Amsterdam, Netherlands 23

ATH Athens, Greece 2

BCN Barcelona, Spain 8

BRU Brussels, Belgium 8

CPH Kastrup, Denmark 8

DUB Dublin, Ireland 8

DUS Dusseldorf, Germany 8

FRA Frankfurt, Germany 16

LGW London-Gatwick, United Kingdom 8

LHR London Heathrow, United Kingdom 20

MAD Madrid, Spain 8

MAN Manchester, United Kingdom 8

MXP Milan, Italy 7

MUC Munich, Germany 8

CDG Paris, France 33

PRG Prague, Czech Republic 4

FCO Rome-Fiumicino, Italy 8

STR Stuttgart, Germany 8

VCE Venice, Italy 20

ZRH Zurich, Switzerland 8

ASIA

SVO Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Russia 4

ICN Seoul-Incheon, South Korea 11

NRT Tokyo-Narita, Japan 8

Note: Direct Service Destinations are served from Hartsfield-Jackson via an intermediate airport. To be categorized as Direct Service, these destinations must be served by an aircraft and flight number that originates in Atlanta, stops at such intermediate airport for either technical purposes or for pick-up/drop-off of passengers, and continues to the final destination.

* Seasonal Destinations

HARTSFIELD-jACKSON ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

2011 INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS

SOUTH AMERICA

BOG Bogota, Colombia 8

BSB Brasilia, Brazil 7

EZE Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Argentina 8

CCS Caracas, Venezuela 8

LIM Lima, Perú 8

UIO Quito, Ecuador 8

GIG Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 8

SCL Santiago de Chile, Chile 8

GRU Sao Paulo-Guarulhos, Brazil 8

Hartsfield-Jackson is also a major air cargo center, with more than 560,000 tons of cargo handled annually by 13 cargo airlines and two million square feet of on-airport cargo warehouse space. Extensive perishables facilities ensure that companies can easily ship biomedical supplies, refrigerated products, live animals or fresh plants.

Georgia’s logistics network seamlessly serves the state’s biotechnology freight through intermodal connections among its port, highway and rail systems. For this reason, the state is a choice location for many companies’ national sales and distribution activities. More than 41 international shipping lines serve the Georgia ports of Savannah and Brunswick, which rank among the most efficient and fastest-growing ports in the world. In less than two truckload delivery days, Georgia companies can reach approximately 80 percent of American industrial and consumer markets by road. CSX and Norfolk-Southern each operate major rail-freight intermodal terminals, and between them 160 freight trains pass through Atlanta every day, making Georgia’s rail system the most extensive in the Southeast.

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Australia

South Korea

Japan

Canada

Switzerland

U.S.A.

Georgia

France

U.K.

Netherlands Germany

Italy

TOP 10 COUNTRIES FOR FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN GEORGIA

GEORGIA’S INTERNATIONAL ADVANTAGE Georgia clearly offers an advantageous business location with a wide range of measurable location assets. Three factors, however, have been critical to its success in attracting multinational biotechnology companies: a major international corporate presence, a globally-oriented business infrastructure and an excellent quality of life.

Global companies have long recognized Georgia’s progressive, inclusive business climate as an ideal environment for growth and expansion. Currently, Georgia’s business community includes over 3,600 international facilities from at least 60 countries. With more than $28.7 billion in exports in 2010, Georgia is one of the leading exporting states in the U.S.

GEORGIA’S TOP INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS The mix of international investment in Georgia has remained stable over the past 10 years. A deep network of global service providers supports Georgia’s international businesses and makes it easy for them to stay connected to their home countries.

Seventy countries operate consular, trade or bi-national chamber of commerce offices in Georgia, and a large number of international financial institutions, attorneys, consultants, insurance and accounting firms help streamline their affairs. The state’s 10 international offices actively help bioscience companies find new markets for their products, and the addition of the state’s first International Business Liaison means executives will have a seasoned professional easing the transition of locating in the state.

Canada $2.98 billion Switzerland $991 million

United Kingdom $2.77 billion Germany $2.10 billion

Netherlands $1.72 billion South Korea $4.19 billion

France $781 million Japan $7.51 billion

Italy $578 million Australia $679 million

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75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 1200, Atlanta, Georgia 30308 - USA

(+1) 404.962.4127 I [email protected] I georgiabiosciences.com

GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) provides

information, support and site location services to companies planning to establish or expand their business in Georgia.

Georgia exports of medical devices and medical equipment exceeded $800 million last year. – up 27 percent. . Georgia exports of non-electrical medical and surgical equipment to Brazil grew 93 percent from 2010 to 2011.

06/2012

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YOUR PRESCRIPTION FOR SUCCESS - georgia.org€¦ · INTRODUCTION Georgia is a premier destination for innovative companies and ... Georgia’s collaborative environment is a catalyst