Nearly 100 bioscience and bioscience-related companies are in New Mexico, and that number is growing. Nationally, biotechnology will add 400,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in the next decade. Here in New Mexico, our strong Technology and Research Corridor—including two research universities and two national laboratories, plus Santa Fe’s so-called “Info Mesa”—is fertile soil where new bio-businesses can take root and thrive.

Particularly, New Mexico’s prowess in high-speed computing sets us apart as a location for the growing bioinformatics industry. Supercomputers at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, plus the collection of private data mining firms in Santa Fe give researchers the power to analyze complex biological interactions and processes. Notably, Santa Fe’s National Center for Genome Resources is a bioinformatics powerhouse integrating biology, mathematics, and computer sciences to give scientists new research resources.

In October 2004, two New Mexico bio powerhouses were tapped for a groundbreaking research project. Iceland-based biopharmaceutical company deCODE genetics won a $24 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to research infectious diseases. Through the grant, deCODE will research key genes for susceptibility to given diseases. With this data, researchers at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center will then develop better methods of treatment and prevention. Next, the National Center for Genome Resources will design and maintain a database sharing the results with scientists worldwide.

Biotechnology firms come to New Mexico for the research base and appealing incentives, such as the Job Training Incentive Program, High Wage Tax Credit, Rural Jobs Tax Credit, and Tech Jobs Tax Credit. They stay for the lifestyle. Our state’s historic ties to Spain, Mexico, and Native culture make it unique in the Southwest and in all the country. Here, you can sit down to a piping hot plate of blue corn chicken enchiladas with green chile from the Mesilla Valley (often called the Napa Valley of chiles.) Witness the largest, most important flamenco festival in the United States, the nine-day Festival Flamenco Internacional de Albuquerque. Or, celebrate the Fourth of July at Nambe Pueblo Falls, amidst rushing water and tribal dances.

Outside magazine keeps its headquarters in Santa Fe—and for good reason. In New Mexico, they’ve got plenty of options for outdoor adventure: whitewater rafting in Taos Gorge, snowboarding at Red River, soaking in the Jemez Hot Springs, camping near Anasazi ruins at Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, or mountain biking in the Gila National Forest--where Geronimo and his compatriots hid out more than 100 years ago. .