BIO Announces New International Conference: The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 8, 2004) — Representatives from the biotechnology, chemical and agriculture industries will join with government officials and academics at the first-ever World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing April 21-23, 2004, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

This new conference, which is being jointly hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the American Chemical Society and the National Agriculture Biotechnology Council, will focus on how industrial biotechnology is being used to transform manufacturing, chemical synthesis, and energy production, while at the same time decreasing pollution. The conference also will focus on how agricultural wastes, such as those derived from corn stalks and rice, are being used to create new consumer goods.

"In the past three years, novel uses of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics have revolutionized many aspects of our lives from how consumer goods are produced to chemical production and industrial manufacturing processes," said Brent Erickson, BIO's vice president for industrial biotechnology. "The convergence of biotechnology, agriculture and chemistry has created a business sector that can bring improvements to society in so many ways, and this conference will demonstrate exactly how."

The three-day World Congress is designed to bring together participants from all over the world from industry, government and academia to exchange ideas and real-world examples of how industrial biotechnology can be applied in daily practice. The conference will also provide an overview of the technological developments and new trends in industrial biotechnology and examine the barriers that must be overcome to advance the concept of a bio-based economy.

Technical sessions on topics such as biotechnology in manufacturing and synthesis, bioprocessing of agricultural feedstocks, bioenergy production, biotechnology's effect on climate change, marine biotechnology, developments in the nanotechnology-biotechnology interface, and national defense applications are among those planned for the conference.

For more information about the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, go online at www.bio.org/worldcongress.

BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.