28 April 2003

Northbank Communications reports on recent Conferences in the Life Science Sector

Attendance at leading conferences across Europes has highlighted interest in emerging areas, difficulties in technical services and disruption to business travel following on from the war and SARS.

Associate Director at Northbank, London, Katja Stout attended the EC21 conference which took place in Munich in March. Here is what she reported.

"The atmosphere was slightly more subdued, and a popular topic on most investors' minds was one of consolidation. The conference provided a broad mix of interactive panel discussions as well as company presentations. Venture investors expressed a general concern at the lack of exit opportunities, and the lack of institutional investor backing".

Katja, who is Finnish by birth also attended the BioHelsinki conference in the Finland also in March. Hhere is what she said.

"In contrast to the general gloom in Munich,the atmosphere at the first conference of its kind to take place in Helsinki, was one of excitement and optimism. Over the past decade a dynamic industry has sprung up in and around Finland's universities and science parks.

"With more than half of its 120 biotech companies founded after 1995, the majority of Finland's life sciences companies are still quite young and in the early stages of the commercialisation process. These companies have lived a relatively sheltered life and have yet to learn some of the pitfalls experienced by their more mature European and US counterparts.

"The conference provided an educational platform comprising of an investor forum, with presentations from the leading Finnish companies and panel discussions, and the exhibition platform showcased many companies and an enlightening conference programme covered the latest ‘hot' research topics in the field of biotechnology such as RNAi and DNA chips. The latter proved popular with students who were invited to attend at a reduced rate. Thus the event had an interesting mix of industry and academic audience as well as general public, all part of the country's drive for a wider understanding of this sector".

Northbank believes there is an excellent PR opportunity in Scandinavia and is exploring ways to help educate these early stage companies on how effective communications can help achieve commercial business goals.

Dr Eileen Paul, Account Manager at Northbank's Munich office attended the Drug Discovery Technology conference in Stuttgart in April. Here is what she had to say.

"There were only about 40 exhibitors, approximately half of the number expected - most of the companies who could not attend were from the USA: according to a number of representatives, American companies would not provide travel insurances for their employees due to the war. Since there were so few exhibitors the organisers offered to set up meetings for some of the exhibitors to act as a lure for ensuring their attendance at the meeting!

Some of the exhibitors were not happy about the total lack of social scene!! Next year the meeting will be in London".

Stefan Platz, Account Manager in Munich reported on his attendance at BioAnalytica also held in Germany in April. He reports as follows:

"Munich's MMI (Munich Trade Fairs International) was the host for the first BioAnalytica. This International trade fair provided solutions for bioindustry as part of the Analytica World trade fair concept and is now scheduled to be held every two years. The event attracted over 250 exhibiting companies from 14 countries and roughly 5.000 visitors.

"Despite the professional organization and the aggressive advertising campaign, BioAnalyitca's exhibitors commented that they missed the usual hustle and bustle of other International trade fairs. For Northbank it was a good chance to check up on the latest developments and applications in the biotechnology and life-sciences sectors as well as providing help to some of our clients presenting themselves in front of the attending media".

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