BC Industry News
National awards and international agreement signal healthy future for B.C. life sciences
July 20, 2011
B.C. life sciences companies are clearly all-stars scoring big wins at BIO 2011, the world’s largest biotechnology convention in Washington, DC June 27–30, 2011. Cardiome Pharma Corp., Allon Therapeutics Inc. and EnWave Corp. won three BIOTECanada’s national Gold Leaf awards for top companies of the year, facing tough competition from life sciences companies from across Canada.
Adding to the glow of the awards, Life Sciences BC (LSBC) signed a cooperation agreement with Norgenta North German Life Science Agency. Don Enns, President of LSBC and Kathrin Adlkofer, Managing Director of Norgenta, the North German Life Science Agency, signed the co-operation agreement initially brokered by B.C.’s Trade and Investment representative in Germany and LSBC’s Life Sciences Ambassador in the Medicon Valley, Denmark. What does the agreement mean?
“The partnership with British Columbia enables us to specifically evaluate cooperation opportunities for North German and Canadian companies and research institutions. Due to their similar focus, our regions offer best prerequisites for a profitable and complementary collaboration,” said Dr. Kathrin Adlkofer, Managing Director of Norgenta North German Life Science Agency. For those unclear on where North Germany is located, it is a geographic region encompassing the German states Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and sometimes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bremen.
Don Enns also pointed out the association’s considerable potential for a successful, future partnership. “With this collaboration, our regions extend their active exchange to foster synergies and mutual interest. The engagement is mainly directed towards our stakeholders within the clusters to pave the way for the joint development of new products.”
This agreement supports the collaboration of important international research projects. For example, the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute and the University of British Columbia are already exploring opportunities to join forces in the research for new drugs against malaria.
BIO 2011 attracted approximately 15,000 delegates from 1,700 companies worldwide, and B.C. companies took part in hundreds of meetings to help formulate future partnerships. The Team BC delegation consisted of 100 life sciences experts from 40 plus companies, and the research agencies were led by LifeSciences BC (LSBC) and Honourable Moira Stilwell, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation, and joined by B.C.’s U.S. Trade and Investment representative.
Watch and learn why B.C. is becoming a leader in global life sciences. Take note of success stories from B.C. companies who are already doing business internationally. Gain access to new markets by registering for upcoming life science seminars and help us promote B.C.’s life science achievements to the world. Share your business experience with us!
