The celts go biotech: governments in Scotland, Ireland--north and south--and Wales open their pocketbooks to build biotechnology companies.(Profession)

The Celtic Fringe, overshadowed politically and economically for centuries by England, is coming into its own as a biotech and life sciences hotspot. While the lion's share of the region's biotechnology strength is clustered around Oxford, Cambridge, and London, the Celtic Fringe countries--Scotland. Wales, and Northern Ireland and Ireland--have built their own biotechnology boomtowns.

The four countries each boast major universities dating back centuries which served as models for education throughout Europe. More than 900 biotech. pharmaceutical, and life science-related companies employ 61,000 workers. Thousands of additional scientists and postdoctoral fellows work at major research universities and medical schools and institutes.

Most major multinational pharmaceutical companies have manufacturing facilities in the Celtic Fringe (most of them …