Amazon and Google are snagging star scientists from top academic institutions in the US
But academic institutions have figured out one way to deal with the brain drain
By Christina Farr
Seattle’s prestigious Institute for Systems Biology has long been a draw for star experimental scientists. But it’s now in a battle for talent with some deep-pocketed competitors: Amazon and Google.
Out of a group of a dozen researchers, four have recently left for Amazon, Google and Microsoft, said Nathan Price, associate director of ISB, which is now owned by Providence Health & Services, a non-profit network of hospitals.
Rather than fighting to hang onto the institute’s standout biologists and bioinformaticists, Price has figured out a way to embrace the trend.
“We’re asking talented researchers to come spend a few years with us, and develop something cool before they get recruited out,” he told CNBC.
Prized academics are in high demand by technology companies, which are racing to bring cloud computing and machine learning to the US$3 trillion health care market. ISB, for instance, uses both Amazon Web Services and Google’s cloud technology on various projects.