![\"BIO.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/tradesecrets\/files\/BIO.jpg\")
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I’ll be attending the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO<\/span>) Convention next week in Washington, DC. For those readers not familiar, it’s biotech’s largest gathering of execs, insiders and supporters – in peak years, the convention drew more than 20,000 attendees. The total has dipped since then, but it’s expected that more than 15,000 will descend on the capital this year. That throng includes the media – there will be hundreds of members of the press there.<\/p>\n Although academics and researchers certainly attend, it’s more a business meeting than a research one, and it’s a great event for biotechs in search of business partners. Countless eventual deals spring from meetings at BIO<\/span>, and at the BIO<\/span> Business Forum – set up to help broker meetings – more than 190 company presentations will be given this year, and more than 20,000 meetings have already been scheduled.<\/p>\n Along those lines, if you’re headed to BIO<\/span> and are not sure how to ready yourself, take a look at “Prepare to Meet your Partner,” a Bioentrepreneur article<\/a> written by Cori Gorman, Cammie Edwards, and Robert Meister.<\/p>\n The supplementary information<\/a> for that article offers a checklist of activities for before, during and after the conference, and also suggests a press release format if you’d like to alert the biotech community that your firm will be at the show. We published the article in advance of the BIO<\/span> Convention in 2009, but it’s as useful now as ever.<\/p>\n Though the BIO<\/span> convention is usually held in the US (the exceptions being Toronto in 1994 and 2002), it draws from all over the world. More than 5,000 attendees will be from outside the US this year, and there are representatives from 65 countries registered to attend. That provides a perfect opportunity for exploring the themes of this blog – entrepreneurism and biotech building, with a slant toward emerging economies. The days are very long at BIO<\/span> – sessions start before 9 am and the evening receptions can run until…well, they can run late. But I’ll be passing along relevant material I uncover while there.<\/p>\n Brady Huggett<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ll be attending the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Convention next week in Washington, DC. For those readers not familiar, it’s biotech’s largest gathering of execs, insiders and supporters – in peak years, the convention drew more than 20,000 attendees. The total has dipped since then, but it’s expected that more than 15,000 will descend on the capital this year. That throng includes the media – there will be hundreds of members of the press there. Although academics and researchers certainly attend, it’s more a business meeting than a research one, and it’s a great event for biotechs in search … Read more<\/a> Continue reading