PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Representatives from the Skolkovo Foundation, the new Russian high-tech innovation center, visited Boston and California this week to participate in the 2012 BIO International Convention and to meet with scientists and venture capitalists.
On June 18 and 19, members of the Skolkovo biomedical technologies cluster joined pharmaceutical companies, teaching hospitals, venture capital firms and over 500 biotechnology companies at BIO, which drew more than 15,000 attendees to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
On June 22, members of the Skolkovo Foundation are co-hosting “Russian BioMed Day in the Valley,” an invitation-only event offering entrepreneurs and venture capitalists the chance to learn about investment and partnership opportunities with Russian scientists, medical experts and technologists. The interactive half-day will also focus on innovative technologies coming out of Russia today.
Russia has more physicians, hospitals and health care workers per capita than any other country in the world, but both its medical research and native pharmaceutical market are underdeveloped. The Skolkovo Foundation aims to open up previously untapped opportunities to invest in research, collaboration and partnerships in the areas of Systems Biology and Translational Medicine, Bioinformatics, Functional and Structural Genomics, and Drug Discovery ventures.
“Globally we face an expanding, aging, itinerant and linked population, meaning there is an ever-expanding opportunity, not just for existing innovators, but for a growing group of researchers,” said Dr. Chris Janssen, director for science and education, Biological and Medical Technologies Cluster, Skolkovo Foundation. “At Skolkovo we are assembling an impressive array of people and resources to address the most pressing health care issues today.”
Other co-hosts of “Russian BioMed Day in the Valley” include Elsevier Business Intelligence Group (publishers of In Vivo, Start-Up, Medtech Insight, and The Gray Sheet); Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, LLP; and Life Sciences Angel Network.
While visiting the U.S., members of Skolkovo’s biomedical cluster also met with scientists and researchers at Columbia University, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California to discuss medical research and technology transfer.
On-site media contacts at Russian BioMed Day in the Valley:
Jessica Bardoulas, 415-591-4057, jessica.bardoulas@bm.com
For more information on Skolkovo, please visit http://www.sk.ru/en
Follow Skolkovo on Twitter @sk_en
About the Skolkovo Foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation has the mandate from the Russian Government to help accelerate the transformation of Russia from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy through strategic partnerships with leading scientists and corporations (currently numbering over 369 companies and start-ups). The Foundation aims to strengthen the links between Russian and international science, technology, education, entrepreneurship and investment communities. To achieve this objective it is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre composed of five R&D clusters, a Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together these entities will establish a vibrant eco-system of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. The Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in May 2010 by the Russian Government with a grant of USD 5 billion. For more information: http://www.sk.ru/en