Enthusiasm was more apparent than scepticism at the 4th Annual Stem Cell Summit, organized by investor, analyst and stem cell fan Robin Young, head of RRY Publications. This conference brought together a motley collection of companies, both well-known and obscure, and each was given ten minutes to tout themselves to potential investors and partners. Business models included cell banking, services, therapies, medical devices and tools; even the smallest companies were often relying on multiple business models.
Several attendees were also planning on going to the Stem Cell Partnering Series, a separate conference put on in cooperation with the International Society for Stem Cell Research, which is going on at the University of California, San Diego on 26 and 27 February. I unfortunately won’t be able to attend that one, but you can get more information here.
In New York on Tuesday, Young himself acknowledged the dizzying diversity of companies represented, speculating whether the term ‘stem cell’ had become an inadequate term for business models applying to many things. Companies at the conference were funded by their own sales revenues, private investors, government grants, venture capital and big pharma partners. Several of the more established companies were recently discussed in an upbeat article in Crain’s Cleveland Business.