Say, wah? Way to go FAU!

Funding To Establish A Max Planck Institute In Palm Beach [County]
Florida
17 Sep 2007

The Max Planck Society has received an offer to establish its first
foreign institute in the US: Florida's Palm Beach County unanimously
proposed the sum of $86.9 million for the next 10 years. In the
coming weeks, it is expected that the State of Florida will
contribute funds to complete the financing, and that specific
negotiations on the establishment of an institute will take place.

The County's decision paved the way for the equally necessary
approval by the State of Florida, which intends to boost the sum
provided by the County to a total of $190 million. This would
facilitate the creation of a Max Planck Institute in the life
sciences on the Jupiter Campus of Florida Atlantic University (FAU),
in the immediate vicinity of the Scripps Research Institute.

"Yesterday's decision is a great compliment for the Max Planck
Society. We are very pleased that the County Commissioners have
demonstrated such great faith in us," said MPS President Gruss after
the vote. With the recent addition of Scripps, and now perhaps also
the Max Planck Society, the State of Florida aims to quickly gain a
place in the premier league of the world's biotechnology hubs. The
state hopes to attract yet further internationally renowned research
institutes and biotech companies to its emerging biotechnology
center. This would allow Florida to expand its basis of wealth and
thus ensure its long-term economic success.

The Scripps Research Institute, internationally renowned in the field
of biomedicine, opened its doors on the Florida Atlantic University
campus just three years ago. The prospect of close cooperation on a
shared campus with Scripps is the primary reason for the Max Planck
Society's interest in Palm Beach County. "Scripps and Max Planck are
a dream team for innovative basic research in biomedicine," says
Gruss. The offer extended to the Max Planck Society is also supported
by the local Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The FAU, the fastest-
growing university in the U.S., will be a key partner in educating
junior researchers and will provide the land for the new
construction.

First Institute on American Soil

"We met with incredible support and enthusiasm for our research in
Florida, not only on the business and political front, but also in
the private sector," says MPS President Peter Gruss. "Florida offers
a particularly dynamic environment for outstanding basic research."
If the State were to now follow the positive vote of the County and
also agree to provide funding for the institute, specific contract
negotiations could get under way and the institute could take up its
work as early as 2008. The institute would eventually have three
departments in which 135 employees from all over the world could
carry out their research. At the same time, the Max Planck Society
wants to offer a visiting scientist program and provide lab space for
internationally renowned researchers to carry out their work.

"The Max Planck Florida institute would give us an independent
foothold in the world's most important country for science," says
Peter Gruss, who views the negotiations in the U.S. as part of a
wider internationalization of the Max Planck Society. "We want to
export the Max Planck success model and step up our international
activities in Europe, the U.S. and Asia." In this context, forms of
cooperation can range from partner institutes all the way to full-
fledged Max Planck Institutes.