Life Sciences Gateway Initiative

With the support of the global pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co. and its subsidiary, Merck, Sharp & Dohme México, San Diego Dialogue launched a two-year initiative to link health and life science research and enterprise between Southern California and regions in Mexico.  The project is designed to build sustainable binational relationships among researchers, scientists, and investors for the purposes of stimulating and nurturing the lifecycle of innovation from research to commercialization.

The partnership with Merck is an outgrowth of the Borderless Innovation report, which included recommendations for expanding existing and new crossborder education and research linkages that will enhance the global competitiveness of high technology industries in California and Mexico. 

Over the course of the Initiative, San Diego Dialogue and its partner program in UCSD Extension, Global CONNECT, will convene a series of site visits, workshops on issues relevant to commercialization in the life sciences, entrepreneurship training programs in partnership with the UCSD William J. von Liebig Center, strategic planning for inter-regional collaboration among key stakeholders, and targeted introductions for those in the participating regions of Baja California, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Morelos, and Nuevo León.

The creation of the Mexican Life Sciences Alliance is one of the most significant outcomes of the Initative to date, and was brought about through facilitation by San Diego Dialogue. The Alliance seeks to promote the complementary strengths of research centers and universities in Cuernavaca, Guadalajara, Irapuato, and Monterrey to better compete in the global biotechnology market and to provide a near-source option for biotech partners in California. Alliance members were at the BIO 2008 trade show in San Diego as exhibitors and presented as a panel on the opportunities for creating business and research partnerships.

Briefing Paper: Borderless Biotech & Mexico's Emerging Life Sciences Industry

Mexican Life Sciences Alliance Brochure [PDF 2MB]

Biotech round the world: Focus on Mexico, Biotechnology Journal, October 2008 [PDF 785KB]

Crossborder Innovation & Competitiveness Initiative

San Diego Dialogue’s Crossborder Innovation & Competitiveness Initiative was a two-year effort to explore the concept that the San Diego-Baja California region will be more globally competitive in key science and technology sectors by leveraging economic development opportunities linking both sides of the border – our economic linkages. This concept includes not just crossborder research partnerships (a key strength of UCSD, with its inherent R&D capabilities and access to leading technology companies), but also in catalyzing connections between the San Diego and Baja California economies in high-value added sectors that link the R&D capabilities to manufacturing and service industries in our region.

The future of both the San Diego and Baja California economies depends on remaining competitive and continuously innovative in a globalized and increasingly skilled world. This Initiative will address "clusters of opportunity", and potentially other related topics – such as trade infrastructure, housing, environmental science, and education. During 2004-2005, several areas of research were explored. These include biomedical device manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, software, aerospace and defense, marine-based biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals and clinical research. The findings of this research, and the initial recommendations for improving the global competitiveness of the binational region that follow, have been compiled into the Borderless Innovation report, and effort suppoted by the State of Baja California, the City of Chula Vista, and Wells Fargo Bank.