For the first time, Greater Philadelphia is recognized as an emerging New World City in JLL’s Global Cities Report for leading the way in innovation in healthcare and life sciences.

This is Greater Philadelphia’s moment – and the rest of the world is taking notice.

Researchers at JLL recently released their 2019 Global Cities Report – and for the first time, Philadelphia has landed on the map of the world’s leading cities, recognized as a New World City – emerging on the list after a year of triumphs in cell and gene therapy, gene editing and connected health.

JLL – which has been analyzing city performance for nearly a decade – measures more than 500 benchmarks tracking cities’ ability to attract new business and development and then retain that growth long-term through job creation, infrastructure development and beyond.

By JLL’s benchmarks, Greater Philadelphia now ranks just outside of the top 20 cities overall, is now in the top 25 cities globally for its ability to promote long-term sustainable economic growth, and ranks 2nd best globally for attracting entrepreneurs and skilled technology graduates. The city improved by six places for overall quality of life, and an astounding 23 places for attractiveness to mobile millennial talent.

Above all else, Philadelphia’s appearance as a New World City in the ‘Innovator’ category is thanks to the region’s concerted efforts to commercialize innovation, particularly as a global influencer in healthcare and the life sciences.

As our region continues to make waves as the global epicenter for growth in cell and gene therapy and connected health, this new achievement confirms what the more than 30 cell and gene therapy companies and multitude of research institutions based here already know to be true: discovery starts in the Greater Philadelphia region.

That same sentiment of excitement around Greater Philadelphia’s innovative spirit was echoed at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia’s 219th Annual Meeting by featured speaker Alex Gorsky, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, who is also a Bucks County resident. “I pinch myself,” he said, sharing that he is most excited by Johnson & Johnson’s work with a CAR T-cell therapy for multiple myeloma. “We can actually get to a cancer cure. If I were here even seven years ago, I don’t think I could have uttered the ‘c-word’ to have that kind of potential in the next several years.”

In fact, Gorsky said, “Philadelphia absolutely has the potential to be the Silicon Valley of healthcare.”

As all eyes fall on Greater Philadelphia, the region continues to prove that it is taking the lead to attract talent, conduct groundbreaking research, and ultimately deliver life-changing results using cell and gene therapies and connected health technologies on the world stage.