Rhode Island Coalition Strong at BIO Convention, Governor Carcieri Leads New England Forum on Biotechnology
May 7, 2007 | Print this page | Share This | Email this page
Rhode Island was well represented at the 2007 BIO convention, held this week in Boston. For the first time in the convention's 14-year-history, Rhode Island participated in the event, hosting an exhibit with 23 of the state's leading health and life sciences companies, research organizations, academic institutions and government agencies.
Participants in the Rhode Island exhibit worked together to pool resources and coordinate the state's participation in the convention, which attracted more than 20,000 attendees from 62 different countries. Rhode Island was also featured prominently in a meeting of the New England Forum on Biotechnology, held in conjunction with the BIO convention, where Governor Carcieri led a roundtable discussion with senior economic development and life science representatives from all New England states.
Governor Carcieri discussed actions Rhode Island has undertaken to strengthen its health and life sciences sector and reaffirmed Rhode Island's commitment to working with the state's neighbors to strengthen the region's position as a national hub for health and life sciences innovation.
Saul Kaplan, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Richard Horan, Senior Managing Director of the Slater Technology Fund, Jeff Seemann, Co-Chair of the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council, and EpiVax President and CEO Annie DeGroot also represented Rhode Island in the forum.
Rhode Island's participation in BIO was led by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council, who provided catalytic seed funding to support the exhibition and by Rhode Island's Tech Collective, who help coordinate industry participation in the event.
Participants in the Rhode Island pavilion included Amgen, Analytical Edge, Aviso, BCR, Biomedical Structures, Blood Centers of America, Care Technology, Community College of Rhode Island, Concordia, EpiVax, Genexion, Hybrigene, Myomics, Nabsys, Organomed, QualityMetric, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Rhode Island Hospital, the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council, Roger Williams University, Tech Collective, University of Rhode Island, Vero Science and Ximedica.
The high volume of foot traffic in the exhibit hall was obvious, as participants in the Rhode Island pavilion handed out hundreds of brochures and spoke with dozens of people interested in the health and life sciences sector in Rhode Island. Similarly, representatives from Rhode Island enjoyed the opportunity to walk the floor and visit with other states, as well as the booths of the 1,900-plus companies that participated in the event.
This year's convention was not only the first time that Rhode Island participated in BIO, it also marked the first time all six New England states participated in a BIO convention.
