Media Coverage
Gwinnett County to become major player in the life science industry
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle
The life science industry in Georgia is growing, and it’s growing fast. It employs nearly 215,000 workers and has a combined $50.2 billion in total economic impact on the state’s economy.
In Gwinnett County, the industry is also booming. The area is home to about 342 small- to medium-sized life science companies, and the sector employs approximately 4,200 individuals, according to data from 2023 by Partnership Gwinnett submitted to the Chronicle. The county plans to become an innovation hub with the Rowen Region, a 2,000-acre mixed-use community hosting environment, agriculture and medicine companies at the forefront of innovation.
The project is predicted to generate an estimated 18,500 jobs by 2035, and in the long term, 100,000 jobs to the state’s economy. Once it is completed, this project would create $8 billion to $10 billion in annual labor income, according to an economic impact study by the Rowen Foundation.
“Rowen will serve not only Gwinnett but Georgia over the next 30-plus years,” said Mason Ailstock, president and CEO of the Rowen Foundation, the public-private partnership with Gwinnett County on the project.
Nearly 13 companies have identified Rowen as a potential location for their site, but they remain confidential, Ailstock told the Chronicle. There are no official announcements yet of a major company moving into the project.
“When a company comes to Rowen, they’re not just buying a piece of dirt,” Ailstock said. “They’re really becoming a part of something where we can connect them to other universities [and] other companies that already call Georgia home.”
The county is also home to the Water Tower, a hub for innovation in the water industry. “We spent $35 million building this institute, and there are now 15 international and domestic companies operating as an incubator and accelerator for the water industry,” said Nick Masino, president and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett.
Gwinnett County’s higher education plays a big role
Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University are major players in building up the talent pipeline that life science companies need, experts agreed. Their joint biomedical engineering program graduated 278 students in 2021-2022 and awarded 31 P.h.D.s in the same period. More broadly, Georgia ranks among the top 15 states in concentration of life sciences graduates.
For Harold Solomon, Georgia Tech’s VentureLab principal, Emory, Georgia Tech, Morehouse College and Georgia State are all very open to talking with companies operating in the state. “They may want to recruit students to work at the companies. They may have problems in their product ideas that they need help solving, and the universities may be an appropriate way to solve the problems,” he said.
The Gwinnett Technical College is one of four institutions in the state that offers a bioscience technology pathway in their technical system, said Maria Thacker Goethe, president and CEO of Georgia Bio, a non-profit, membership-based organization promoting the interests and growth of the life sciences industry in the state.
State tax incentives, technical colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Georgia Research Alliance and Georgia Bio have all played a role in the industry’s growth.
Gwinnett County has a diverse workforce and is buyer-ready
Contrary to many beliefs, the life science industry needs a wide range of talent, so not all jobs require a medical or graduate degree, Goethe said. For instance, companies might need researchers, manufacturing employees, technicians and people with laboratory and equipment operation skills.
With plans to house life science companies, Gwinnett County was recognized with a Gold-Tier BioReady Community status by Georgia Bio this year. This honor shows Gwinnett County met the highest standards for supporting life science facilities.
In the long term, the industry will grow in Gwinnett and throughout the state. “Every county and every municipality has something that’s attractive for our industry, and I think Gwinnett County is a great example of a diverse county that is buyer-ready and has been very forward-thinking about innovations and investing in sites that are going to help innovators grow,” Goethe said.
