OVERSHADOWED by the Silicon Valley phenomenon, the San Francisco Bay area is also the birthplace of biotech. The race to produce the first human proteins (insulin) and human growth hormones was won here by the industry-defining company Genentech. The region now has 1,400 companies, including Gilead Sciences, Bayer, Applied Biosystems and Chiron.
Bionic Man
In the foothills of the Valley, Mir Imran personifies the cusp between high-tech and biotech. At 52, Mir has founded over 20 medical device companies, holds over 200 patents and is perhaps best known for his pioneering contributions to the first FDA- approved Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator.
As chairman and CEO of InCube Labs, founded in 1995, Mir defines himself as a parallel entrepreneur. InCube was concieved to function as an applied research institute, validating early-stage experiments to allow for a more efficient company formation process. Since its inception, Mir has set up 11 more companies, some of which are currently incubating within the facility.
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