California is still the dream state. It’s an unparalleled engine of innovation, the mecca of biotech, high tech and now clean tech. In wipeout 2008, California’s wipeout economy attracted more venture capital than the rest of the nation combined. The Golden State has fought the status quo since its birth 160 years ago. And even amid a particularly rough chapter in the state’s history, the nation’s future is being written in California, TIME Magazine reporter Michael Grunwald wrote in the Nov. 2, 2009 issue of the national magazine. During his whirlwind reporting tour of California, Grunwald spent hours with BIOCOM CEO Joe Panetta visiting several Southern California life science companies and meeting some of the industry’s visionaries, including J. Craig Venter, a genomics pioneer. The seasoned reporter obviously liked what he saw and heard.