Overview: Located on the southeast coast of Florida, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA is comprised of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties. Known as the Gateway to the Americas, the region is an ideal location for conducting international business, especially in Latin America. As such, the MSA accounts for the majority of Florida’s total export of goods to overseas markets. With a diverse, educated labor force, exceptional research universities, and thriving clusters of aviation, life sciences, and professional services companies, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA will continue to serve as a cluster of growth for Southeast Florida and contribute to Florida’s ongoing development as the innovation hub of the Americas.

Education: Academic institutions in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA educate approximately 100,000 students each year. Institutions in Miami-Dade County include Miami-Dade College, the University of Miami, and Florida International University (FIU). Miami-Dade College offers associates and bachelor’s programs. Institutions in Palm Beach County include Palm Beach Community College and Florida Atlantic University (FAU). FAU is home to the Centers of Excellence in Ocean Energy Research and Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology in addition to Florida Atlantic Research Park and FAU Technology Business Incubator.

Infrastructure: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA is easily accessible via I-95 and I-75, both of which run north-south along Florida’s east and west coasts respectively, and intersect in the MSA. Florida’s Turnpike provides an alternative north-south route, and connects the region to Orlando. Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and Palm Beach International Airport offer daily non-stop service to numerous domestic and international destinations.  The Port of Miami-Dade, a foreign trade zone, is the world’s leading port for cruise line traffic and a top ranking cargo port. Port Everglades, also a foreign trade zone, handles cruise and cargo traffic as well, and is known as South Florida's primary bulk cargo port. The Port of Palm Beach is also located in the MSA and is one of  the busiest container ports in the continental U.S.

Business Environment: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA possesses a bustling network of aviation, professional services, and life sciences clusters. More than 1,000 multinational companies have leveraged the region’s strengths in international business by establishing operations here.  As the birthplace of the IBM PC in the early 1980s, the MSA also possesses a growing IT cluster in Broward County. Miami serves as a network access point (NAP) of the Americas, digitally connecting North and South America. In terms of life sciences, Palm Beach County is home to world-class biomedical research institutes Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute - both of which are expected to attract related manufacturers and create spin-off companies. University research centers, such as the University of Miami’s Clinical Research Institute, assist in providing an anchor for the region’s life sciences industry.