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Site Selection: Innovation City

  • October 22, 2018

St. Louis’ bioscience cluster was ranked the sixth largest in the nation – ahead of Boston, Cleveland and San Diego – by the National Cluster Mapping Project, according to a new article by the Site Selection team.

As home to major life science companies like Monsanto, Express Scripts, and world-renowned research institutions like Washington University in St. Louis and The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the city has built one of the strongest bioscience and agtech clusters in the country.

Sheila Sweeney, CEO of St. Louis Economic Development Partnership notes the region’s talent assets, infrastructure, central geographic location and innovation districts help drive St. Louis forward. Sweeney says one of her top priorities is to continue to enhance the agriculture and agtech sector and attract new companies to the region focusing on research and technology, plant science, crop yield, drone technology and contract research – an easy sell when you consider the people working in St. Louis.

“We really have a highly educated and talented workforce,” Sweeney says. “I think our best kept secret is that we graduate 44,000 students from area universities and colleges every year. At 39 North we have 1,000 plant science PhDs. They’re all working and living here, and that talent continues to grow.”

St. Louis has one of the most well-educated workforces in the country with a Bachelor’s degree attainment nearly 10 percent higher than the national average and those educated minds are brimming with new ideas. According to Popular Mechanics and Mashable, St. Louis is the No. 1 fastest-growing market for tech startups in the country.

“We are seeing a lot of high growth startups in bioscience and agtech,” says Ginger Imster, Vice President of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for St. Louis Partnership. “What we hear from them is that they like St. Louis because they can collaborate with other innovators. One of the things that makes St. Louis unique is that we have three thriving innovation districts that all work together and feed off the energy from one another.”

Check out the full article from the Site Selection team here.

For more information on growing your business in Missouri, contact Steve Johnson, CEO of Missouri Partnership, at 314.725.2688, or via our contact form, with any questions you might have, and to learn how Missouri Partnership can help with your business expansion and investment needs.

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