Our competitive advantage in this sector is clear.  Greater Baltimore, with the National Institutes of Health, hundreds of life science companies, and major academic research centers at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, is the home to as much medical discovery brainpower as any place on the planet.  To realize the potential of the academic research engines, we must convert the discovery taking place in those labs into actual products.  Our universities have recognized the importance of this translational activity, as is evident in their commitment to the establishment of new major bioscience research parks.