The Midwest will be showing its strengths, especially in the areas of agricultural biotech and in the convergence of the medical device, diagnostic and therapeutic companies, at the upcoming BIO 2006 in Chicago next week.
I will be among the predicted record attendance of over 25,000 registrants. If you’d like to take time to meet next Monday (April 10th), drop me a line and we’ll arrange a meeting at the McCormick Place Convention Center. I’ll be around the Exhibit Hall looking for a good cup o’ joe.
As pointed out by G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company, a San Francisco based global leader in life sciences whose principal activities are in Venture Capital, Merchant Banking and Media, the “Midwest is not the first place people think of when considering centers of biotechnology excellence (most of the biotech activity is concentrated on the East and West coasts) but it’s really more of an awareness issue than it is a fact issue.”
The Midwest is involved in the life sciences industry in a very broad way, from medical devices and diagnostics to biopharmaceuticals, agricultural technology and industrial biotechnology. The region is home to hundreds of life sciences companies and, as Burrill points out, medical devices in particular is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Midwest.
