LAKE COUNTY LEADS IN LIFE SCIENCES

Thanks to a highly-integrated educational system that anticipates business needs, students study at nationally-ranked high schools, earn pre-med credentials at the College of Lake County and Lake Forest College and go on to receive doctoral degrees in an array of disciplines including neuroscience, molecular biology, pharmacy, medicine and more. 

Illinois is one of the top states in the U.S. for science and engineering-focused degrees. Chicagoland is also the #1 destination for BIG TEN graduates, with thousands entering the market each year with life science-related degrees.

The area is a national leader in biotech research and development, with some of the best minds at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois and others. 

Lake County is home to flexible and rapidly growing developments including Bridge Point North in Waukegan, the Antioch Business Park, and Cornerstone in Grayslake - where Medline invested $125 million into a 1.4 million sq. ft. LEED-certified distribution facility to handle thousands of individual products and devices shipped to healthcare providers across the continuum of care, such as hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgery centers, hospices and physicians’ offices. Since cutting the ribbon, Medline has hired 700+ new employees, who handle more than $1 billion in annual orders.  

This cutting-edge campus has celebrated a huge string of wins as high-profile life science and technology leaders—including Novartis Gene Therapy, Medline, Valent Biosciences, EVBox and Intermatic—have chosen to locate and grow here.

Chicago has been named the location for Chan Zuckerberg's second U.S. biohub, putting it on par with San Francisco. The deal represents a $150 million investment over the next 10 years, with a focus on engineering technologies to measure biological processes within human tissues. The partnership was cemented by 3 global universities.  

Chicagoland's robust life sciences sector has landed it on the top 10 locations in the country for biopharma activity according to Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. The metro region's strength lies in its funding for life sciences, patents awarded, dedicated lab space and number of industry jobs. 

Illinois’ life sciences industry has enjoyed considerable growth, from legacy companies such as Abbott, AbbVie, and Horizon, to startups spun out of the state’s research universities. Hundreds of thousands of square feet of new wet lab space is under development in the state, much of it in close proximity to Lake County, and the state has paved the way for new high-tech facilities by launching a $9 million capital program aimed at expanding access to space and encouraging industry breakthroughs.