Growing Life Science Business in the Pacific Rim: BioPartnering North America
The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest. On the northeastern rim is the U.S. and Canada with their vast innovation capabilities, and natural resources. On the northwestern rim are the massive production capabilities and the expanding markets of Japan, Korea and China. These economies are also seeking to increase their global success through innovation, by harnessing science and technology, particularly the life sciences.
The southwestern rim is home to the “Asian Tigers” such as Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia, together with Australia and New Zealand – all major centers for the development of the life sciences. The southeastern rim is home to half of Latin America, where the life sciences are increasingly being used in agriculture and energy development.
This is a massive region and there is a lot going on. Asia is now the fastest growing region in the world. The west coast of the U.S. and Canada remain the most innovative region in the world. This is especially true for the life sciences, with large clusters in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Los Angeles/Orange County, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver and Alberta.
After 10 years’ of success, TVG is focusing its BioPartnering North America (BPN) on the Pacific Rim because this is where a lot of life science business will be taking place in the years to come. We plan to build on close ties with industry leaders in the Pacific Rim to create a unique opportunity for the U.S., Canada, and Europe to meet leading life science companies from Asia. In previous years, we have had delegations from Japan, Korea, China and India, which have greatly expanded networks, and it is our intention to expand this aspect of BioPartnering North America (BPN).
Vancouver is strategically placed to be able to play a three-pronged role in this plan: 1) as a gateway from North America to Asia; 2) as the top of the Pacific Biotech cluster in North America – Vancouver in the north to San Diego in the south – the largest concentration of life science institutions in the world; 3) tapping into Canada, which is the fourth largest biotech cluster in the world. Europeans, such as the Italian Trade Commission (ITC), UBI France and UKTI will be able to assist their client companies to greatly expand their business connections.
BioPartnering North America is scheduled for February 26-28, 2012, and sits in the calendar between the JP Morgan investor event in San Francisco in January, and the BIO CEO & Investor meeting in New York City in March. What makes BPN different is that delegates can have quality meetings with potential partners, from over 30 countries. Using TVG’s partnering software product, ‘biopartnering.com’, all delegates can pre-arrange meetings up to 2 months prior to the event, and during the event. Follow-up is possible using the system, after the event has concluded. TVG’s biopartnering.com software product is widely viewed as the “Gold Standard” of the industry, and is used with success by thousands of life science companies each year.
TVG acknowledges that a global life science industry is forming, and not just in the world of biopharmaceuticals, but also all areas of the economy, what is termed the “bioeconomy.” Wikipedia defines the bioeconomy as “all economic activity derived from scientific and research activity focused on understanding mechanisms and processes at the genetic and molecular levels and its application to industrial processes.” The next phase in the evolution of BioPartnering North America is to further develop the Pacific Rim network because all aspects of biotechnology is being advanced in this region. BPN will remain a biopharmaceutical event in 2012, and as our network expands, we will include other industry categories in future.
All events must serve a purpose. The purpose of any event changes over time. When BioPartnering North America was launched in 2003 many people were not aware that there was a vibrant biotech community in British Columbia. Now, B.C. has many leading institutions, including the CDRC, Genome BC, UBC, Simon Fraser University, plus large and small life science companies, which are world-renown. TVG and the stakeholders in BC have experienced how an event such as BPN can catalyze business growth and development. This is true for government institutions and well as private sector groups.
Dr. Robert Lee Kilpatrick
Partner, TVG
