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The Greater Philadelphia Region

In General

Located between New York City (100 miles) and Washington D.C. (142 miles), the Greater Philadelphia region which extends from Princeton, New Jersey throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, is also easily accessible to the West Coast, Europe and South America via non-stop, 6-hour flights. Philadelphia International Airport is the second fastest growing airport in the world; Philadelphia's Amtrak station is the third busiest in the country and there are three major shipping ports.

Philadelphia is the 4th largest metropolitan region in the U.S., following only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and the 2nd largest on the East Coast in terms of employment, population and income. With one of the lowest costs of living, one of the lowest median home prices and the lowest rents among U.S. Eastern metros, the Greater Phialdelphia region offers competitive demographics for your business.

The region's economy is more knowledge-based than ever before. Industries that require highly educated and skilled workers now make up 43 percent of Greater Philadelphia's total employment. With 88 colleges and universities, the region produces about 21,785 advanced degrees and 34,732 bachelor degrees and higher every year.

Source
Select Greater Philadelphia

Businesses in the Region

Some of the largest U.S. and international businesses are located in Philadelphia, particularly in the health care, pharmaceutical and financial services industries. Here is a list of the some of the corporate giants that make their mark on this region:

  • Pharmaceutical - Merck & Co., McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceutical, Quest Diagnostics, GlaxoSmithKline Wyeth Pharmaceutical and Research
  • Health - Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services, Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Jefferson Health System, Tenet Health Systems, Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP), Independence Blue Cross, Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Kennedy Health System
  • Financial - MBNA, Commerce Bank, Bank One Card Services, Vanguard Group Inc., Prudential, JP Morgan Chase, The PNC Financial Services Group and Wilmington Trust
  • IT and Communications - Comcast Corporation, Verizon Communications
  • Education - University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, University of Delaware
  • Defense - Boeing, Lockheed Martin
  • Other - Du Pont, QVC Inc., United Parcel Post, The Chrysler Group/Daimler Chrysler AG, Aramark
Sources
Philadelphia Business Journal Book of Lists, 2005
The Business Ledger of Delaware Book of Lists, 2005

Economic Development

In addition to direct access to a wide range of industry leaders, the Greater Philadelphia Region has an impressive asset base to successfully support new start-up and high growth enterprises that can benefit from proximity to a solid anchor. The region offers institutional development opportunities and funding for businesses whose life cycles range from research and development through commercialization:

  • The Science Center connects businesses in all stages of development looking for a U.S. presence with the resources they need to accelerate: strategic and technical assistance that new companies need but often cannot afford to staff, its own investment fund plus the ability to identify and leverage other investment sources, a cadre of experienced and talented business professionals who allow companies to benefit from their expertise, a community that thrives on knowledge and information exchange and that shares information, collaborates, and increases knowledge and real estate ranging from single offices to fully-equipped laboratories to customized finished office space. With 30 academic institutions as shareholders, the Science Center brings together for-profit and non-profit national and international organizations that are committed to the development of emerging technology and life sciences companies. The Science Center is located one mile from Center City Philadelphia and adjacent to the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and the Wistar Institute.
  • Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP), an independent not-for-profit economic development organization, is part of a statewide network that provides capital and expertise in technology, finance and business to promote growth in early stage companies. BFTP/SEP offers: critical seed capital at the earliest stages, growth capital for product development, process improvement and technology commercialization, financing through mezzanine and guarantee funds, funding for the commercialization of university discoveries and access to venture capital funds. BFTP/SEP supports its investment companies with: one-on-one business assistance through portfolio management and mentoring programs and customized technology assessments, competitive analysis and strategic planning. BFTP/SEP serves as a resource for entrepreneurial support by providing: relationships with preferred service providers, partnerships with qualified investors, access to technology development resources , laboratory facilities for product development , strategic alliances and licensing opportunities.
  • Growth Capital in the Greater Philadelphia Region includes numerous incentives to foreign companies that establish a presence in the geographic area. In addition to private institutional and individual funding sources, a few non-industry specific funds include: the Foot in the Door Fund-Opportunity Grants offered by The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in amounts of up to $30,000, depending on jobs, technology, location and capital investment, for smaller foreign companies that decide to locate in Pennsylvania and The Mid-Atlantic Angel Group Fund I, LP (MAG), a 4.4 million, 80 member-managed fund seeks to leverage various public and private funding resources by providing equity capital to seed and early-stage, technology-based, high-growth companies.
  • Technology Transfer is available at many of the region's leading academic institutions: Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, Lehigh University, just to name a few.
  • AICC Business Network is a consortium of businesses, investors, academic, government and quasi-government institutions, including those specifically listed, that provide meaningful assistance to Israeli companies in all areas of their business operations.

Business Growth by Industry Sector

Life Sciences

  • The Greater Philadelphia Region has the largest per capita allocation nationally of industry research and development dollars to life sciences according to a study prepared by the Milken Institute in 2004, the second largest concentration of health care resources, 11 major pharmaceutical companies and 8 headquarters, four times the national concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturers and 44% of annual venture capital investment in biotechs.
  • The America-Israel Chamber of Commerce offers direct access to life sciences companies in the region through its Life Science Advisory Board, a group of highly-qualified experts in their respective fields of medicine and technology development who evaluate referred companies.
  • BioAdvance's Greenhouse Fund supports work leading to the proof-of-concept of a therapeutic agent, tool or platform, diagnostic or device in the field of human health for companies located in or willing to relocate to Southeastern Pennsylvania. Similar funding is available in Central PA and Pittsburgh. Up to $500,000 will be invested in a project in any one funding cycle. Applicants may apply for additional funding to support the same project in subsequent funding cycles, but the aggregate investment in any project may not exceed $1 million. The Fund supports projects that are capable of receiving additional financing, such as venture capital or corporate partnering, within 18 - 24 months of initiation.

Defense and Homeland Security

  • More than 1500 businesses in the Region fulfill more than 30,000 defense contracts aggregating more than $4 billion annually. These figures do not include the activities of homeland security businesses in the region.
  • The ACIN Center for Entrepreneurship in Technology located in Camden, New Jersey, minutes from Philadelphia is a full-service technology accelerator program designed to assist small companies exploit opportunities within the military through delivering products and services based on emerging technologies that meet an immediate need. Managed by Drexel University for the Department of Defense, the ACIN Center has produced over $10 million in small business government contracts, has worked with Israeli technologies, and with commercial partners from General Dynamics, CACI, Verizon FNS, Galaxy Scientific, Lucent, Lockheed, and Sarnoff . ACIN focuses on Applied Communications and Information Networking technology that provides benefits to the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. As a member of the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Drexel University takes an interest in partnering with Israeli companies that will thrive at ACIN.
  • Through its Defense Advisory Board, AICC can assist Israeli companies with innovative technologies to access the U.S. defense and homeland security markets.

Science and Chemicals

  • The Chemicals Industry in Greater Philadelphia is the fourth largest in employment among the major metro areas, an economic driver with more than 30,000 Greater Philadelphia residents employed in the industry and employs double the percent employed nationally. Major chemical companies located in this region include: Sunoco, DuPont, Rohm & Haas, Rockwood Holdings, FMC and Hercules.

Information Technology

  • Greater Philadelphia's information technology sector is the 6th largest in the country. Powerhouses located in the Greater Philadelphia include ACS International, CAI, Computer Science Corp, Lockheed Martin, SAP North America, Siemens and Unisys. Fortune 1000 Companies include: Comcast, UnisysI, KON Office Solutions, SunGard Data Systems and Vishay Intertechnology. Software and IT companies have received a large allocation of the region's venture capital and many of them have made it onto "fastest growing companies" lists.
Source
Fortune Magazine, 2006

Success Stories

  • AICC Board Member Ami Miron, then President and CEO of MoreCom brought its internet-based technologies for the web and cable television to Ben Franklin Technology Partners for seed capital and access to industry experts. The company was ultimately acquired by Liberate Technologies for $561 million, generating a 1500 percent return to its investors.
  • AICC Member Safend develops endpoint security solutions that maintain security without sacrificing mobility. Launched in 2004, Safend products are already installed in security-aware enterprises, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and many SMBs across the globe, including one of the largest telecom operators in the US, a leading global computer hardware manufacturer, and various multi national corporations, governmental agencies and financial institutions worldwide. Servicing large and small enterprises from around the world, Safend is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel with offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since its inception, Safend has been an active participant in AICC's business network.
  • AICC Member Onne Ganel is the CEO of MicroMRI, Inc. a medical device company that commercialized a virtual bone biopsy diagnostic at the University of Pennsylvania and has benefited from the rich medical community and funding resources available in the region all the while maintaining strong and essential ties to Israel. In December 2006, MicroMRI received a $500,000 technology development grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners.