CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 2013 BIO International Convention, the global event for biotechnology, wrapped up today at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill. with a record number of partnering meetings and panel sessions on the latest science, policy issues and business opportunities and challenges facing the biotechnology industry. Hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the event drew 13,594 industry leaders from 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and 62 countries.
"The 2013 BIO International Convention brought together global leaders from industry, government and academia who are working together to move innovation forward," said BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. "Our Convention provides biotech leaders with opportunities to showcase our industry's promise to offer real solutions to the most pressing global challenges such as curing disease, reducing health care costs, combating hunger, discovering alternative forms of energy and creating high-wage jobs."
The Convention program featured more than 125 breakout sessions across 17 tracks, which included Achieving Regulatory Approval and Compliance, Biofuels and Biobased Chemicals, Biotech Patenting and Technology Transfer, Business Development, Finance, Food and Agriculture.
"Chicago, the 'City of Big Shoulders' embraced and welcomed the global biotechnology community as host to the 2013 BIO International Convention," said John Flavin, BIO Program Committee Co-Chair, Managing Director, Flavin Ventures, LLC and Executive Director of Chicago Innovation Mentors. "I sat in on many standing room only presentations and panels discussing the cutting edge of biotech business, scientific and regulatory topics. I walked the crowded, expansive exhibit hall seeing so many familiar faces and organizations representing diverse geographies, universities and companies all focused on developing breakthrough technologies and products to cure diseases and improve our standard of living around the globe. I leave the Convention today with renewed optimism, energy and enthusiasm for the biotechnology industry as a whole and intend to leverage and enhance our Chicago bioscience ecosystem and make a global impact with the assets and talents we have here."
The top 10 largest international delegations included (in order): Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil, Turkey and Australia.
Ten U.S. Governors attended this year's event: Iowa Governor Branstad, Illinois Governor Quinn, Indiana Governor Pence, Kentucky Governor Beshear, Missouri Governor Nixon, North Carolina Governor McCrory, Pennsylvania Governor Corbett, South Dakota Governor Daugaard, Texas Governor Perry and Wisconsin Governor Walker. To see highlights from the Governors' visits, please watch here.
The BIO Business Forum hosted a record-breaking 25,573 scheduled partnering meetings between 2,800 companies and featured 167 company presentations, including the Rare Disease Partnering Summit featuring presentations by pediatric institutions.
"Takeda is pleased to support BIO as a Double Helix sponsor and to be a local host for the Chicago meeting. We have always valued the opportunity for focused exchange that BIO's one-on-one partnering meetings offer. Our booth in the BIO Exhibit Hall makes a global pharmaceutical company like Takeda even more accessible to prospective partners. We look forward to deepening the relationships that this year's convention made possible," said Jill Fischer, PhD, Director, Global Business Development, Takeda Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.
The 2013 BIO Alliance Pavilion, which connected patients with advocates and academics in the BIO Exhibition, hosted over 500 partnering meetings, nearly a 100 percent increase over the Academic Zone from last year.
"It has been a very productive four days for us at the BIO Alliance Pavilion. Through our participation in the one-on-one partnering system, we have been able to connect with important business executives to discuss potential collaborations which will help promote our shared goal of advancing medical discoveries to maximize healthy aging," said Susan Peschin, CEO, Alliance for Aging Research.
The BIO Exhibition featured more than 1,722 exhibitors and covered 180,000 square feet with 60 state and international pavilions. In its second year, Exhibitor partnering hosted 5,400 meetings, a 25 percent increase over 2012.
We thank Governor Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for their hospitality and support leading up to and during the 2013 BIO International Convention.
For Convention video, photos, and more, please visit http://convention.bio.org, for session highlights and editorial, please visit http://www.biotech-now.org.
The 2014 BIO International Convention will take place June 23-26 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.
"We are very excited to host the 2014 BIO International Convention in San Diego for the third time. San Diego's biotech community has continued to make significant advances since the Convention was last here in 2008. Since then we have worked at building a strong biotech start-up ecosystem and emerged as a leader in genomics and personalized medicine. We look forward to welcoming the Convention and all of our global biotech colleagues to California," stated Joseph D. Panetta, President & CEO of BIOCOM.
The BIO International Convention helps support BIO programs and initiatives. BIO works throughout the year to create a policy environment that enables the industry to continue to fulfill its vision of bettering the world through biotechnology innovation.
About BIO
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIO produces BIOtechNOW, an online portal and monthly newsletter chronicling "innovations transforming our world." Subscribe to BIOtechNOW.
| Upcoming BIO Events |
| World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology |
| June 16-19, 2013 |
| Montreal, Canada |
| BIO IPCC Conference |
| November 6-8, 2013 |
| Washington, DC |
| Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioenergy |
| December 8-11, 2013 |
| San Diego, CA |
| BIO Convention in China |
| November 11-13, 2013 |
| Beijing, China |
