Arash of globalization is transferring upscale jobs offshore. This is the politically charged business practice of sending high-paying jobs out of the United States and Western Europe to Eastern Europe and developing countries, where salaries are considerably lower.
For us, there are two questions: Will life sciences research, industrial or academic, follow this offshore trend? And if so, who will be the winners and the losers?
The life sciences have so far been pretty deaf to the siren song of outsourcing. In the United States and Western Europe, leaders in the political and scientific communities argue that the combination of human and intellectual capital, the quality of support and infrastructure, and the access to wealthy markets make it unthinkable that the life sciences community would join the offshore boom.
But consider other professions: Chip-design teams, engineering firms, software development companies, and financial analysis offices, among others, are leaving to employ ...
