Economy
Several areas of San Diego (in particular La Jolla and surrounding Sorrento Valley areas) are home to offices and research facilities for numerous biotechnology companies. Major biotechnology companies like Neurocrine Biosciences and Nventa Biopharmaceuticals are headquartered in San Diego, while many biotechnology, such as BD Biosciences, Biogen Idec, Merck, Pfizer, Celgene and Elan Pharmaceuticals have offices or research facilities in San Diego. There are also several non-profit biotech institutes, such as the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the Scripps Research Institute and the Burnham Institute. The presence of University of California, San Diego and other research institutions helped fuel biotechnology growth. In June 2004, San Diego was ranked the top biotech cluster in the U.S. by the Milken Institute.
San Diego is home to companies that develop wireless cellular technology. Qualcomm Incorporated was founded and is headquartered in San Diego; Qualcomm is the largest private-sector technology employer (excluding hospitals) in the United States. Other companies also have research and development labs in San Diego, principally focused on cloning Qualcomm's CDMA cellular technology. [citation needed]
The economy of San Diego is influenced by its port, which includes the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast, as well as the largest naval fleet in the world. Due to San Diego's military influence, major national defense contractors, such as General Atomics and Science Applications International Corporation are headquarted in San Diego.
Tourism is also a major industry owing to the city's climate.[citation needed] Major tourist destinations include Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, Seaworld, nearby Wild Animal Park and Legoland, the city's beaches and golf tournaments like the Buick Invitational.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
