<p>Last year's BioFlorida conference in Gainesville drew a then-record 400 registrants, and this year's event in Weston drew 450, indicating the momentum the life sciences industry has been building in the state. </p>
<p>That's good news for the economy of Gainesville and the many fledgling and established biotechnology and biomedical businesses here that feed off of each other for employees, resources and ideas.</p>
<p>"We've seen a lot of momentum since (former Gov.) Jeb Bush emphasized it as an economic driver for the state," said Geoffrey Williams, chief operating officer for Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Saliwanchik, a Gainesville intellectual property law firm specializing in life sciences patents, and a sponsor of the conference.</p>
<p>A major theme of last week's conference was keeping up that momentum under Gov. Charlie Crist, who so far has not expressed the same level of enthusiasm for supporting biotechnology as a way to diversify the state's tourism-dependent economy.</p>
<p>Williams singled out the efforts of individuals in the University of Florida's technology licensing office and the biotech incubator in Alachua for keeping the state active in the biotech arena.</p>
<p>Patti Breedlove, manager of the UF Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator, unveiled FloridaBio database.com at the conference. She said it's the first database of the state's biotech and biomed device companies, a resource for investors, potential partners, service providers, customers, economic development entities, researchers and media.</p>
<p>"This database will become the I-95 of the Internet to connect Big Pharma to Florida," said Robert Bloder, vice president of Aveva Drug Delivery Systems of Miramir.</p>
<p>The location and relocation of several big research companies to Florida continues with recent news that Germany's Max Planck Society is coming to Jupiter, joining SRI International in St. Petersburg, the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in Port St. Lucie and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in Orlando.</p>
<p>While the big players are locating in Central and South Florida, Williams said locals need not worry that that will drain biotech companies from the area. A point he took from the conference was that clustering physically is not as important as a "virtual convergence."</p>
<p>It's a concept his law firm can relate to. "We used to have offices in Orlando and San Diego," he said. "We brought everybody in one roof because with today's technology, we don't have to be everywhere."</p>
<p>While the firm represents a great many local clients, they have built a client base around the world, largely on the case history of the late founder Roman Saliwanchik. Williams said Saliwanchik successfully argued the first appellate case that science based on living microorganisms is patentable, which is at the very basis for turning biomedical research into commerce.</p>