'Warm at the centre, cooling at the edges' could sum up bioscience today in the San Francisco Bay Area. Queasy financial markets mean it is not a propitious time to take a new company public, and job hunters in support areas such as public relations, marketing or technical writing may have to look harder for work. But scientists with technical skills are more likely to find the Bay Area's power blackouts, gridlocked freeways and ultra-costly housing to be the annoying costs of success rather than barriers to future advancement. Indeed, by many measures the fundamental factors for good job prospects are stronger than ever.
Companies range in size from giants such as Genentech, with 3,100 employees, to boutique start-ups such as Silicon Genetics in San Carlos, 10 miles south of San Francisco. Growth in the regional industry continues unabated, providing 85,000 direct jobs and generating $8 billion in annual revenues. For example, South San Francisco is home to 80 biotech companies — many of them spin-offs from Genentech — up from 34 just two years ago. And university campuses in the area are undergoing a construction boom as well, which will result in more jobs in the future (see “Bay Area building boom”). The region's appeal is evident in the funding numbers. At $703 million in 2000, Northern California ranks only behind Boston and New York in National Institutes of Health (NIH) extramural grant money received. Eight times more NIH money per capita than the national average flows into the area.
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