In June 2004, the Milken Institute published a report ranking the biotech clusters of the U.S., which can be found here

A lot of interesting notes including..........

If one could magically drop San Diego's biotech cluster into Buffalo at a 'gross metro product per job' of $104,316 overall and $133,333 direct only, what impact would it have on Buffalo Niagara's 545,900 non-farm employment?

Altogether, the life science industry in San Diego MSA is responsible for 55,600 jobs, or nearly 5
percent of all nonagricultural employment in the region. Of those, 21,000 are accounted for directly, while 12,600 and 21,000 are generated through the indirect and induced effects, respectively. For every job within the life sciences in San Diego, an additional 1.7 jobs are created in all other sectors. Similarly, the life science industry in San Diego MSA is responsible for $5.8 billion, or 5.3 percent of gross metro product in the region. $2.8 billion is registered directly, while $843 million and $2.2 billion are generated through the indirect and induced impacts, respectively. For each dollar of output produced in the life sciences sector in San Diego, an additional $1.10 of output is generated beyond it.

To get there, you need to start with the science as happened in San Diego and UB's goal of recruiting 8-10 NAS scientists should only further the excellence in science being produced today.

The Scripps Research Institute solidified a position as one of the world's leading centers of
biomedical research in 1961 with the recruitment of the immunologist Frank Dixon and a team of four colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh. Specializing in the causes of autoimmune disease, the pioneering work of Dixon and his team effectively put TSRI, in particular its Department of Experimental Pathology, at the forefront of bio-science research. And Jonas Salk brought to his center some of the world's foremost biological research scientists, including Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of the "double helix" structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Thus, almost two decades before the launch of San Diego's first biotech company, the area was already well populated with advanced research sites and truly world-class human capital.

UCSD: Indicators of Bio-Science Strengths
Since its founding in 1961, U.C. San Diego has risen to become
one of the world's leading universities for life science research.
The following illustrates various dimensions of its leadership
position.

Nobel Laureates. Ten UCSD faculty have been awarded the
Nobel Prize. Current faculty members who won awards relevant
to the life sciences are Francis Crick (prize awarded in 1962 for
discovery of the double helix structure of DNA), George Palade
(1974, structural and functional organization of the cell), and
Renato Dulbecco (1975, tumor viruses).

National Medal of Science. Considered the nation's highest
scientific honor, eight UCSD faculty have been recipients,
including Nobel Laureate George Palade (1986) and Yuan-Chen
Fung (2000), professor emeritus of bioengineering.

MacArthur Foundation Awards. Popularly known as
the "Genius Awards," 11 UCSD faculty have been recipients,
including Russell Lande in biology.

National Academy of Sciences. UCSD ranks 7th in the nation
in the number of faculty elected to the NAS, America's premier
society for the scientific community. (The top 10, in descending
order, are: Harvard, U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Yale, CalTech,
UCSD, Princeton, Chicago, and Cornell.)

Nature Magazine. The leading scholarly journal of the life
sciences, Nature, in its "Yearbook of Science and Technology"
has ranked UCSD as "one of the 10 most powerful research
universities in the United States."

Cited Research. The Institute for Scientific Information
has ranked UCSD 5th in the world in terms of the most
cited molecular biology and genetic research papers. UCSD
pharmacology professor Michael Karin ranks 1st worldwide

Pretty straight forward, recruit great scientists to do great work, in particular those with entrepreneurial ambitions.

In the case of the formation of San Diego's first full-fledged biotech company, Hybritech, its two
co-founders had been lured away in 1977 from research positions at Stanford to do work at U.C.
San Diego on what was then one of the most promising fields in biomedical research: monoclonal
antibodies. Within less than a year of their arrival at UCSD's cancer center, the
former Stanford research team of Royston and Birndorf had decided to find a means to set up a
company based on their own advances in monoclonal antibody production techniques.

Started with $300,000 from Kleiner Perkins.........

But specific plans for Hybritech, which co-founder Birndorf thought of as "a very nice little business," were themselves of minor scale. The vision was based on how we bought antibodies all the time for our research and antibodies back then were made in animals. Each batch was different. Each time you did it produced different immunogenicity and whatnot and you had to test each batch, etc...........Within five years of Hybritech's founding, spinoff companies were being formed (the first, Gen-Probe, was co-founded by Hybritech employee number one, Birndorf, himself). Over time, the fortunes of the firm would vary. In 1986, Hybritech lost its independence with a $480 million acquisition by the pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly. One indication of Hybritech's lasting impact on the cluster is the number of companies that can be traced back to former Hybritech employees. As of the 25th anniversary of Hybritech's founding, the San Diego Union Tribune counted more than 50 firms that could be considered the progeny of San Diego's original biotech firm. Admittedly, Hybritech's business model changed over time.

Could Roswell be Buffalo's Salk?

Salk Institute generates $100 million a year for the local economy. Its scientists have been involved in the founding of nearly 20 companies and developed 250 active patents that are being licensed to biotech or pharmaceutical companies.

Everyone in Upstate likes to complain about the lack of venture capital........but SD didn't have any either in the beginning. And fyi, NYC is closer to Buffalo than SF is to San Diego.

Since arriving in San Diego in 1977 as an assistant professor of medicine at UCSD, Ivor Royston has made tremendous contributions to the San Diego cluster as a researcher and business innovator. He began his latest enterprise, Forward Ventures--what is today the major life science-dedicated venture capital firm in the San Diego region--in 1990. "Whereas back in the 1970s, there was no venture capital firm here, we had to access venture capital from the Bay Area. But that's now changed."

But in the end, it is all about people........

While acknowledging the importance of the cluster's capacity to generate cutting-edge science,
Royston stresses how having capable people, more than brilliant technology, has built up the
cluster.

The above provides a roadmap to the traditional cluster building approach (recruit great scientists, invent great things, bring capital from outside the area.....and you only need one big winner). But 40 years after the fact and with greater global competition, I believe the model has morphed some and holding your breathe until the one hits isn't very rational.