I don't disagree with your sentiment, but I think you've missed the question that GP was asking. > are there many examples of planned efforts like this actuall

I don't disagree with your sentiment, but I think you've missed the question that GP was asking. > are there many examples of planned efforts like this actually working, where some group is able to attract top talent in some industry and keep it for the long term? If we're talking about EMBL in Heidelberg, we can say with confidence that (along with DKFZ) it's a huge drawcard for the University. But the GP asked if it had attracted talent in some industry and kept it for the long term. Can we really say that the Rhein-Neckar region has really attracted big private sector biotech investment, on par with a place like Basel? I don't think so. By a pure coincidence of geography, companies like Roche have a presence in the general area (Mannheim I believe), but I don't think you can argue that any deliberate actions by EMBL or DKFZ have led to deep private sector talent pools. I actually think you could turn this argument around pretty easily and show that even enormous investments in institutions like EMBL and DKFZ don't actually create the private sector spinoffs that central planners would imagine. Like the GP, I suspect that there is a combination of environmental factors at work, that we can't fully identify at present.