The 2015 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology Closes in Montreal - Event Sets New Record for Partnering Meetings
Montreal, Canada (July 22, 2015) – The 2015 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology, the largest international industrial biotech event, concluded today at the Palais des congrès de Montréal (Montreal Convention Center). This year’s Conference drew around 1,200 industry leaders from 725 companies, 50 countries and 37 states, as well as the District of Columbia. Organized by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology hosted more than 1,400 partnering meetings, a 40% increase from the 2014 BIO World Congress.
“This year’s BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology brought together leaders and executives in industry, investment firms, government and academia from across the globe to pursue industrial biotechnology’s potential to create a bioeconomy,” said Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President, Industrial & Environmental Section at BIO. “From our robust plenary sessions, to the record number of partnering meetings, the 2015 World Congress was a resounding success. This event continues to provide leaders with the opportunity to showcase the best of the industrial biotech industry and form connections and partnerships that will drive growth in the sector for years to come.”
The World Congress featured a dynamic group of plenary speakers from the Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad to Marcos Vinicius de Souza, Secretary of Innovation, Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade of Brazil to Andrew Hagan, Head, Director of Chemistry and Advanced Materials Industries & The Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies at the World Economic Forum.
Educational programming included 300 speakers and 48 sessions in 8 educational tracks which addressed the latest in Renewable Chemicals and Biobased Materials, Specialty Chemicals, Feedstocks, Food & Nutritional Ingredients, Synthetic Biology and Advanced Biofuels and Biorefinery Platforms. For session highlights and editorial, visit www.biotech-now.org.
The BIO Exhibition featured more than 50 exhibitors and sold over 7,000 square feet.
Sofinnova Partners, a renewable chemistry venture capital firm, held their first “Renewable Chemistry Start-Up Award,” at the 2015 BIO World Congress, CleanTech Investor Sessions. Sofinnova had approximately 8,000 votes, identifying top 5 companies who presented to judges at the CleanTech Investor session and then named Glucan Biorenewables as the winner.
This year’s international delegations included: Brazillian Delegation, Holland Delegation, Illinois Delegation, Iowa Delegation and the Thai Delegation.
BIO named Solazyme CEO Jonathan S. Wolfson as the recipient of its 2015 George Washington Carver Award for innovation in industrial biotechnology. After receiving the award at the World Congress, Wolfson provided heartwarming remarks to attendees which can be found here.
BIO also awarded Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, Chief Executive Officer of LanzaTech, with the prestigious BIO Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology. This award was established to put the spotlight on a pioneering woman in the industrial biotechnology sector who has made significant contributions to the advancement of the biobased economy and biotech innovation. Her remarks can be found here.
For BIO 2015 video, photos, and more, visit convention.bio.org.
The 2016 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology will take place April 17-20 in San Diego, California at the San Diego Convention Center.
Upcoming BIO Events
BIO Latin America Conference
October 14-16, 2015
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
BIO Investor Forum
October 20-21, 2015
San Francisco, CA
BIO-Europe
November 2-4, 2015
Munich, Germany