Berlin-Brandenburg at the 2013 BIO in Chicago

Berlin Partner and BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg are organizing the capital region’s appearance at the 2013 BIO in the USA / 400 international guests are expected at the Berlin-Brandenburg Night reception on opening night / the capital’s key sectors are taking advantage of the world’s largest biotech trade show to make international contacts

The BIO International Convention, the world’s largest biotechnology trade show will take place in Chicago from April 22-25, 2013. Once again this year, the Berlin and Brandenburg states will showcase the “BioCapital Region Berlin-Brandenburg” with a stand at BIO. Seven companies and institutes from the region will be on display, including Bayer HealthCare, BioTeZ and KNAUER (Wissenschaftliche Gerätebau Dr. Ing. Herbert Knauer GmbH). Berlin Partner GmbH and the BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg initiative at the TSB Innovationsagentur Berlin GmbH will organize and supervise the stand.

“The capital region’s strong showing at BIO is unmistakable proof of the important international role of the Berlin-Brandenburg biotech location. Berlin is not only Germany’s prime biotech location, but also among the top 5 in Europe. It is our priority to display and present this excellence at BIO, the world’s largest and most prominent biotech marketplace,” explained Melanie Bähr, Managing Director at Berlin Partner GmbH.

More than 200 biotech companies with approximately 4,000 employees and more than 30 pharmaceutical companies with roughly 10,000 employees are located in the capital region. These include globally active enterprises like Bayer HealthCare, Bausch & Lomb, B. Braun Melsungen, Berlin-Chemie, Takeda Pharma and Sanofi-Aventis. They, along with many small and medium-sized enterprises, benefit from close cooperation and proximity to renowned research institutes on the one hand, and users in the more than 130 clinics and hospitals on the other. In particular, the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin excels as one of Europe’s largest university hospitals.

On the road to growth: According to initial results from a survey by biotechnologie.de about biotechnology in Germany, compared to 2011, Berlin-Brandenburg saw an increase of nearly 10 % in the number of employees, as well as an increase in revenue at 15 % above the German average.

Opening day festivities at BIO: For the fifth year in a row, the Berlin-Brandenburg Life Sciences location will host 400 international guests from the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors at Berlin-Brandenburg Night.

“This is an excellent way to start conversations and make new contacts in Chicago. From year to year, more and more international biotech and pharmaceutical companies are interested in becoming active in the German capital region. Naturally, as a result, there are opportunities for local companies to make important contacts at BIO in order to become active in the global market,” said Dr. Kai Bindseil, BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg Director and Manager of the Healthcare Industries Cluster Berlin-Brandenburg – HealthCapital.