People have been talking a lot about Florida lately. Fueled by a $6-billion state budget surplus and a desire to expand beyond its current employment base, Florida has spent almost $1 billion to convince Southern California research institutions that they should open satellite offices there. Florida wants to make a biotech cluster.

Not surprisingly, three nonprofit research institutes which raise their money from private donations and government grants have accepted the offer. The Scripps Research Institute, the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies are constructing new labs in various parts of Florida that will supplement their Southern California headquarters.

So are the companies leaving? Of course not: these are expansions, not departures. Am I worried? On the contrary, I couldn't be happier. The life sciences community, whether an academic institution, an early-stage startup looking for its first round of funding, or a development-stage company looking for a partner, is always in need of financing. Florida is offering San Diego-based research institutions one of the things they need most: money to bring innovative therapeutics to market.

The simple fact is that Florida's bold effort to jumpstart its life sciences industry is a risk?not unlike the risk California took with Proposition 71 and its $3-billion effort to keep the state in its position as world leader in embryonic stem cell research. This industry is fraught with risk, but from great risk comes great reward, and these bold moves are what will advance the cause of developing products to improve health and quality of life.

When we get the calls from the breathless Florida media asking when their biotech cluster will arrive, I can't help but smile. Just as it takes a long time to develop a new drug, it takes a long time and much more than money to build a life sciences cluster.

The fact is biotechnology is not an industry that grows up overnight. In Torrey Pines, here in San Diego, the first healthcare institutions started 100 years ago, and the University of California came in 1960. Hybritech, the first biotech company in San Diego, started just after Genentech, in 1978. Over time, we have built a solid infrastructure. Our evolution to densest concentration of life sciences companies in the world has taken a long time.

As with Florida, the roots of San Diego's biotech community were the result of a partnership between the public and government. San Diego?s forefathers and its people voted to set aside land on Torrey Pines in the 1950s to become the heart of a scientific research center. Entrepreneurs backed by investors willing to finance them and service providers to facilitate their efforts have set off wave after wave of startups that will grow up to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Now our region leads the world with its rich mix of startups and established firms: more then 500 companies with 37,000 employees. These companies include medical device firms like ResMed and DJO, diagnostic makers like Gen-Probe and Biosite, and global leaders like Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Biogen Idec and Pfizer.

Nor will Southern California will rest on its laurels. For the past three years, Biocom has focused efforts on raising this region?s profile among investors. There is too much great science and too many entrepreneurs working on the next big thing for our local investors to do it all.

Looking out across the floor this week at BIO 2007, the industry?s largest annual gathering, you can't help but be impressed by the number of places around the world trying to attract life sciences companies. As conference goers stroll, they pass sprawling booths representing areas with massive marketing budgets, cheap land and tax incentives. Again, people ask me, ?How can California compete??

The life sciences do not grow in a vacuum. Scientists need to be near scientists, academics need to be near industry, startups need to be around successes, biotechs need pharma, and everyone needs specialized service providers to address their needs. When you think about the ecosystem of innovation, the strong entrepreneurial spirit and the support system we have in Southern California, the question is: How can anyone else compete?

Joe Panetta is president and CEO of the San Diego-based life sciences association Biocom.