EDA to Host Vendor Fair for New Jersey’s Life Sciences Industry

On May 5, 2015

Showcasing the vast array of services available to New Jersey’s life sciences industry, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) will hold its first-ever vendor fair on Friday, May 8, at its Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies (CCIT) in North Brunswick.

From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, more than a dozen vendors will be on hand to highlight different services and equipment available to help companies thrive in New Jersey.

“The EDA knows that emerging life sciences companies have a lot of needs beyond securing funding,” EDA Chief Executive Officer Melissa Orsen said.  “Friday’s vendor fair will introduce life sciences companies to service and equipment providers that can help their businesses succeed.”

Vendors scheduled to attend include EisnerAmper, an international accounting and consulting firm; Porzio Life Sciences, LLC, which provides compliance services and products that enable companies to comply with global, federal and state regulations; Worldwide Life Sciences, which supplies laboratory equipment to life sciences companies; and, GenScript USA, Inc., a contract research organization that offers services and products to scientists.  A complete list of participating vendors is included below.

Home to more than two dozen seed-stage life sciences companies, CCIT offers its tenants affordable lab and office space and a wealth of resources, including: help identifying funding sources, access to small business development resources, and a newly-implemented Executive-in-Residence program through which highly qualified life sciences professionals advise and mentor tenants.

@NJEDATech spoke with CCIT Program Manager Anne-Marie Maman about why she created the vendor fair and what she expects of the day-long event:

Who should attend the fair?

Anyone working in life sciences should take advantage of this fair.  In one visit they will be able to collect information from a variety of vendors about their products and services.

What are the vendors’ areas of expertise?

There is a broad range of products and services that will be represented at the vendor fair.  Visitors will be able to collect information on products used in their labs (like glassware, consumables and analytical instrumentation), on services required for preclinical through commercialization stages (like custom synthesis, contract manufacturing and testing) and on corporate strategies important for their successful growth (like compliance, regulatory, QA and accounting).

Why is the EDA offering this event?

We are often asked by vendors if we can help facilitate the introduction to our tenants and the NJ life sciences community.  We are also often asked by emerging life sciences companies about different vendors and their offerings.  Therefore we decided that a vendor fair would be an efficient way to connect the conversation and allow people to speak directly.

Friday’s vendor fair is one of many new programs EDA has introduced over the last year to support emerging companies.  Can you speak to one or two of the others?

We have initiated a new Lunch & Learn program – we just had our first session with Dr. David Kimball from Rutgers talking about “Partnering with Rutgers Translational Sciences.”  It was very well attended and focused on interdisciplinary collaborations at Rutgers and building strategic alliances with the private sector.  Our next Lunch & Learn will be on May 15^th when Tim O’Rourke from EisnerAmper will address “Choosing the Right Corporate Entity and Saving Taxes.” Register for this program by emailing [email protected].

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