PORTUGAL SENDS ITS LARGEST DELEGATION EVER TO BIOTECH’S TOP EVENT
  2014-06-16
   
  Cantanhede, Portugal, June 16, 2014. This year’s BIO International Convention will welcome the largest delegation of Portuguese companies ever, in a clear sign that this crucial sector is growing in the country. Twelve technology-based companies will travel to San Diego, California, on June 23-26 for that which is the largest event in the Industry, at a global level. In 2013 the Conference was attended by over 2,800 corporations, held 167 talks and hosted more than 25,000 partnering meetings.
   
 
   
  Under the aegis of the Biocant Park, a key reference for the sector in Portugal, and of P-BIO – Portugal’s Biotechnology Industry Organization, the participating companies will be part the world's largest stage in a sector that nowadays produces half of the new drugs entering the market, supports the livelihood of more than 18 million farmers worldwide, and which, due to its capability to bring innovation to multiple industries, is a top priority for countries as diverse as China, Canada, Malaysia and Spain, to name but a few.

P-BIO – Discovery is in our DNA, is the motto chosen for the delegation and is also, from now on, the brand name for what is expected to become an internationally competitive cluster of excellence in Biotechnology.

Carlos Faro, Biocant’s director, said that “the national Biotechnology sector has demonstrated a unique ability for attracting talent and generating high value-added knowledge – this is an excellent example of the new paradigm in Portugal’s development”. Sérgio Simões, vice-president of Bluepharma and President of Luzitin, one of the participating biotech start-ups, said that ”BIO International is a unique opportunity to establish strategic partnerships in biotechnology and to advance the innovative technologies developed by the participating companies. Although Bluepharma has been participating in BIO for some 10 years, the Biocant International Project has enabled the company to participate as an exhibitor for the first time, giving us better conditions to promote our technologies”.

The initiative is part of an Action Plan for the Biocant International Project, which runs until June 2015 and will include a range of initiatives to promote the internationalization of Portuguese biotech SMEs. The project is led by Biocant Park in collaboration with P-BIO, and is funded by Portugal’s Incentive System for Qualification and Internationalization of SMEs.

About Biocant

Biocant is the first and only Science and Technology Park specialized in Biotechnology in Portugal. On its ecosystem are included companies, R&D units of Biocant and the UC-Biotech, the basic research and business training unit from the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of the University of Coimbra, as well all stakeholders linked to the national and international scientific and business networks of Biocant. www.biocant.pt

About P-BIO

P-BIO was founded in 1999 (as APBio) and it is Portugal’s sole association of Biotechnology companies. Among its members are the vast majority of the country’s biotech ventures, as well as many of the largest multinationals in the sector. www.p-bio.org. Contact: sec.geral@p-bio.org. +351 231 410 960.
   
   
   
                                                                                                                                                                          
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