Bioversity 2007 is dedicated to showcasing university technologies available for licensing, either directly or through early-stage spin-outs, to bioscience and pharmaceutical companies
Bioversity 2007, which is being held on 20 June at Central Hall, London, will appeal to companies looking to collaborate at an early stage of commercial development, and has already received support from a number of leading pharmaceutical and bioscience companies, including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Merck, Arrow, Astex and Chroma.
It will be the first time these two audiences have been brought together with the specific aim of enabling multinational pharmaceutical companies and SMEs to learn about the cutting-edge technologies and high-quality commercial opportunities currently available from UK universities and spin-outs.
"The UK R+D base is growing at a considerable rate and this conference aims to inform potential licensees of the wealth of opportunities that are available to supplement in-house R+D activities and improve product development pipelines" commented Rob Hockney, strategic planning and business development, AstraZeneca.
Poster-style presentations featuring innovative technologies in the areas of therapeutics, platform technologies, research tools and diagnostics, and biomarkers will form the basis of the event, with presentations from academics speaking about the impact of ground-breaking technologies.
Simon Best, co-founder and chairman of Ardana, will deliver a key note speech on 'The opportunities and challenges of taking university technology to market'.
Best is a former chief executive officer of Zeneca Plant Sciences and was founding chief executive officer of Roslin Bio-Med.
He is currently chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA).
The conference is being organised by the University of Southampton, with support from sponsors including IP Group, BDO Stoy Hayward, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
