San Diego — Georgia has world-class universities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and cutting-edge companies working on cures for everything from AIDS to diabetes.

But when it comes to the biotech business, one thing Georgia doesn't have is much respect.

Within the industry, "I don't think people think of (Georgia) in the context of all the capacities and capabilities it has," said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Between this week and next year, Stewart and other Georgia officials are trying to change that.

At the industry's annual BIO conference that starts here Tuesday, Stewart, Gov. Sonny Perdue and a small army of other state boosters will try to make sure Georgia is on everybody's mind.

Their push in San Diego is just the start. Next year Atlanta hosts the conference, which typically attracts more than 20,000 of the bio businesses' heaviest hitters from around the world.

"It's like hosting the Olympics" of the biotech industry, said Charles Craig, president of industry trade group Georgia Bio.

In San Diego, Georgia boosters are sponsoring the conference's opening reception Tuesday - a fancy fete aboard the USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier that now is a floating museum in San Diego Bay.

Georgia banners will line this city's historic Gaslamp Quarter, where industry executives will hobnob over pricey drinks and dinners.

Throughout the week, Stewart and Perdue plan to call on every biotech company they can - both those based in San Diego and those just in town for the show - hoping to convince them to relocate or expand to Georgia.

Georgia officials have made biotechnology and life sciences businesses their top target when it comes to recruiting, because of the industry's higher-than-normal salaries (averaging more than $61,000 in Georgia), its growth potential, and its relative cleanness.

They've had some success.

Between 2001 and 2006, the number of life-sciences businesses in Georgia increased by 38 percent, according to Georgia Bio, compared with an average growth rate of about 14 percent for all other industry sectors in the state.

Two years ago, consulting firm Ernst & Young put Georgia at No. 7 among America's top biotechnology centers.

That said, talk to folks in the biotech industry about leading states, and they'll rattle off California and Massachusetts - the granddaddies of the biotech business - and then states such as North Carolina, Florida, Maryland and Texas.

Georgia seldom comes up.

Part of the problem is that Georgia's biotech industry today is made up of mainly smaller, early-stage companies that haven't had as many big hits as more established companies elsewhere.

The state also is often off the radar screen of venture capitalists, the main source of initial funding for biotech start-up companies.

Also, Georgia's government leaders - at least until recently - didn't provide its biotech base enough money, effort or infrastructure to keep up with neighboring states.

North Carolina's biotech hub, Research Triangle Park, has its roots in the 1950s, when state government and universities teamed up with local business groups to build the biggest research park of its kind. Since then, scientists originally with big biotech and chemical companies there, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and BASF, have started scores of new companies.

Florida vaulted onto the nation's biotech scene two years ago after then-Gov. Jeb Bush set aside hundreds of millions of dollars to lure biotech businesses to the Sunshine State. As a result, Florida quickly landed several high-profile research institutions, including several from the San Diego area.

For Georgia, "it may be time to step up and do something from a marketing standpoint like the state of Florida did," said Patrick Kelly, a vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, sponsor of the annual BIO conference. "It became a national news story, and then all the sudden people (in the industry) started looking at Florida and saying, 'Wow, we need to start thinking about Florida'."

Brian Adams has been in the biotech business for a decade. He's currently director of business development at Sciele Pharma Inc. in Atlanta.

"People put their attention where things are happening, and right now it's in" Florida, North Carolina and other states, Adams said. "But that's not to say we can't build (the industry) here to where it's equal to those other areas."

Georgia is stepping up its effort to build its biotech base.

Formed in 1990, the Georgia Research Alliance has invested more than $400 million in state funding to help attract top university researchers and spawn new technology companies, mostly in life sciences and biotech businesses

To address the shortage of venture capital, Georgia in 2000 started the Bioscience Seed Fund, which along with a separate Life Sciences Facilities Fund has set aside millions for investing in start-up biotech companies. The state has earmarked millions more to fund research into alternative fuels and other bio-related ventures. Still, compared to other states, Georgia's venture funds are relatively small.

Universities, meanwhile, are focusing on biotech like never before. The University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, the Medical College of Georgia and other schools all have major expansions in the works related to biotech and medical research.

"We probably haven't done a very good job of telling people about all we have to offer," acknowledged Craig, president of Georgia Bio.

That's changing in San Diego with BIO 2008 this week, he said — and culminating with Atlanta's hosting of the event next year.