By Robin Deacle, Director, Corporate Communications
The 2008 BIO International Convention is in full swing this week in San Diego. Attendees at this year's conference hail from 70 countries and 48 states, with a total of 20,108 industry leaders.
Those in attendance heard keynote luncheon talks from renowned scientist Dr. J. Craig Venter, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. General Colin Powell and Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue are scheduled to close the lunch series today.
Nearly every facet of the biotechnology industry was under the microscope at the various breakout sessions, partnering sessions and networking events.
The state of North Carolina and its many representatives added their touch to the international event. Some of the highlights:
The reigning BioGENEius
Sixteen teenagers stood on the stage as convention-goers enjoyed a light lunch and heard about the International BioGENEius Challenge.
The program, sponsored by sanofi-aventis, is a biotechnology research competition for high school students. The winners from six U.S. regions, Canada and Western Australia show skill not only at research, but at presenting their findings, and answering questions from some pretty tough judges.
This year’s fourth and third place prizes went to students from Western Australia. The runner-up came from New York. The clanking of forks on china paused as it was time to announce the winner…
Mingjuan “Lisa” Zhang from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Read more about her project here.
Congratulations Lisa!
A new pavilion
The BIO exhibition hall is filled with pavilions from states, regions and countries all over the world. These pavilions span the space of several or more traditional exhibits.
Placed between Georgia and Spain this year, the North Carolina pavilion put the state’s best foot – or feet in this case – forward. The North Carolina Department of Commerce brought together companies, research institutes, investment firms, regional economic partnership and workforce training efforts to portray why North Carolina is like nowhere else in the world for biotechnology.
The pavilion got a new look this year. The increased open space enabled more networking between larger groups of people.
Scenes from across the state were paired with accolades and statistics about the state’s economy. For example, North Carolina had the most in-migration of all states in 2007.
Finally, those attending the convention got to “meet” some of the people who make the state’s industry great. Pilot, and Nobel Prizewinner, Dr. Oliver Smithies greeted visitors from a larger-than-life image on one corner of the pavilion. Others representing research, teaching, and industry helped welcome visitors to the pavilion, and invite them to join the state’s thriving bioscience community.
And the iPod giveaway probably didn’t hurt.
The governors three
Nowhere is the competition for a piece of the biotechnology pie more evident than the industry’s annual convention.
Take the Tuesday lunch discussion. Gov. Deval Patrick talked about the Massachusetts biotech supercluster built on years of science and company growth, something he wishes to strengthen with his $1 billion Life Science Initiative. In Florida, former Gov. Jeb Bush referenced the money directed to the recruitment of Scripps Institute, and the growth of a biotech cluster around that.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger added his take – California’s early dominance and strong university system puts the state at the forefront of biotechnology industry growth. Today, Gov. Sonny Perdue will lay Georgia’s cards on the table and invite everyone to the BIO convention in Atlanta next year.
Yep, the competition is heating up.