By Alice Ancona, Senior Vice President & COO, World Trade Center Miami

The COVID-19 pandemic has made terms like PPE and N95 masks common household lingo.  In the past few weeks, we have all learned a lot about things which we once took for granted.

Regardless of where anyone stands on the trade-war with China, COVID-19 has made it acutely clear that localizing or regionalizing supply chains for the medical equipment and pharma sector is vital and can save lives.

From a Miami and Florida standpoint, this is not science fiction, it is achievable.

Consider this: Florida is home to the nation’s:

• 2^nd largest pharmaceuticals and medicine manufacturing industry
• 2^nd largest medical device manufacturing industry
• 5^th largest biotech R&D facilities

Many of these facilities are located here in Miami/South Florida.

We have a tremendous eco-system of companies that are best-in-class.  These companies not only need our support today to weather this recession, they need investment in the sector to ensure that we can source and supply our community, the nation and the world.

Download Enterprise Florida’s Life Sciences Industry Brief here.

Download the Miami Trade and Logistics Hub Fact sheet here.