Life Sciences companies and researchers focus on innovations, product and service delivery in biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics and laboratory technologies. Integral to the innovations and developments of these companies are the area’s universities and academic research institutions.
Materials Science is an engineering discipline that emerged in the 1960s from various research programs in metallurgy, engineering, physics, and electronics. In San Diego, Materials Science research began in the 1950s with General Atomics and other major contract companies.
The Software/Information Technology sector was developed when several established companies decided to locate offices in San Diego. San Diego now includes offices of Sanyo, Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Cymer, drawn by the now-established depth of innovations and the world-class academic research programs and supporting service entities of the Region.
The origins of the San Diego telecommunications industry date to the 1971 relocation of the Linkabit Corporation to San Diego from Los Angeles. Founded by Irwin Jacobs and Andrew Viterbi, Linkabit quickly became a key player in the region’s economy with over seventy-five direct or indirect spinoff companies, the best known being Qualcomm founded by Jacobs and Viterbi and five other Linkabit alumni in 1985.