James C. Greenwood Welcomes BIO 2015 to the Region

By Anthony Birritteri, Editor-in-Chief On May 27, 2015

Biotechnology Industry Organization

James C. Greenwood,
President and CEO

1201 Maryland Ave., SW,
Ste. 900

Washington, DC 20024

202-962-9200

www.bio.org

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Bucks County native James C. Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), is thrilled that the 2015 BIO International Convention is being held in Philadelphia. When he first joined the organization 10 years ago, the annual convention was on his home turf. Held at various US locations since that time, industry representatives from New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania had been asking him: “When is BIO International coming back to the area?”

These three states now know the answer and at press-time should be ready for what is considered the Olympics of biotechnology. “This is an opportunity for the region to show its strengths,” Greenwood tells New Jersey Business.

Particularly for New Jersey, some 16,000 attendees from 65 countries (a majority c-suite level executives) will get to see the state’s incredible history and strengths in the biopharmaceutical realm. Greenwood talks about the fact that New Jersey is home to 14 of the 20 largest biopharmaceutical firms in the nation, and that there are some 380 biotech firms in the state employing 66,500 people.

“When people who are thinking about starting or moving a business get to see the region and what it has to offer in terms of emerging companies, large scale pharmaceutical companies, hospitals that conduct clinical research and world-class universities, it translates into a great economic engine for the area.”

At the convention, which will encompass more than 160,000 square feet of exhibit space at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Greenwood says there will be some 30,000 one-on-one meetings over the course of the three-day event, which runs from June 15-18. “These meetings are of enormous value because our business is very much about creating opportunities such as: one company licensing intellectual property from another; investments being sought; partnerships being arranged; and mergers and acquisitions being accomplished.

“The score of meetings will have a huge impact on the industry,” Greenwood continues. “Someone told me once that these BIO events are saving a lot of jet fuel because people don’t have to fly all over the world for these face-to-face conversations.

“We also have a whole set of panel discussions and forums on everything from policy and science to the business of biotechnology. So, there is an exponential learning curve that occurs here as people come together and listen to the world’s greatest experts on a broad range of topics,” he says.

Keynote luncheon speakers at the event are: Tom Brokaw, former anchor of NBC Nightly News and author of “The Greatest Generation” and “Boom!”; and Dr. Eric Topol, the director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and author of “The Patient Will See You Now,” and “The Creative Destruction of Medicine.”

Overall, Greenwood says that the US biopharmaceutical industry is growing tremendously. These companies directly employ 1.6 million people, and bioscience related patents have been increasing every year since 2009, a growth rate that exceeds all other industries.

 

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