West Palm Beach August 2026

S omewhere in a Jupiter laboratory right now, a scientist is working on a treatment that could change how the world fights Alzheimer's. Down the hall, a Palm Beach County high school student is watching it happen. That scene captures something most residents drive past every day without realizing: Palm Beach County has become one of the nation's most compelling places for life science research, a sector that was built long before being a hub for finance and quantum. Nearly 700 life science companies operate here, employing more than 7,000 local residents, and the discoveries emerging from our county reach patients around the globe. The heart of it sits on Florida Atlantic University's Jupiter campus, where three world-class institutions work side by side. The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, formerly Scripps Florida, pursues drug discovery and biomedical breakthroughs. The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience is the only North American home of Germany's legendary Max Planck Society, and its leader, Dr. David Fitzpatrick, was just inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in American science. The FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute rounds out a research campus few regions in the country can match. FAU itself now carries the Carnegie Classification's R1 designation, the nation's top mark for research universities. Here is the part that should make every parent take notice: hundreds of Palm Beach County high school students and science teachers have trained at the Scripps campus, working shoulder to shoulder with some of the best scientists in the world. That is not a field trip. That is a career beginning. The private sector is growing just as fast. ADMA Biologics, which makes lifesaving immune therapies, is adding a third facility to its Boca Raton campus. ZimVie, a global leader in dental implants headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, employs more than 600 people locally and trains thousands of dental professionals from around the world each year. None of this happened by accident, and none of it grows on its own. Life science leaders who support the Business Development Board of the Palm Beaches through membership serve on its Life Science Advisory Council, continuing to champion the sector's growth so that future generations of Palm Beach County residents inherit an even stronger ecosystem of discovery, opportunity and world-class careers. - Submitted by Kelly Smallridge, President and CEO, Business Development Board of Palm Beach County - - Photos provided by the Business Development Board - COMMUNITY 4 W E S T PA L M B E A C H | A U G U S T 2 0 2 6 To learn more about economic development support in the life sciences, visit BDB.org . Breakthroughs HappenHere INSIDE THE PALM BEACHES' LIFE SCIENCE ECOSYSTEM