Italian companies are visiting the USA, home to the supreme rulers in the biotech field, to exhibit a range of state-of-the-art, high-tech products.

It will certainly be a challenge for these participants in the Bio International Convention, taking place in Washington from June 27^th to 30^th.

The Italian Trade Commission, in collaboration with the industry’s association, Assobiotec, has organised a delegation of 44 participants, including Companies, Science and Technology Parks, and Research Centres. The aim is to present both the general public and workers in the sector with a detailed and comprehensive picture of Italian developments in biotechnology.

Particular attention will be focused on new advances since the last Bio Convention was held in May 2010. There have been many innovations in the last year, both in terms of products originating in the research and development sector, and with regards to promotion.

Indeed, there will be some agencies present charged with promoting the economy and potential of individual Italian regions: These will be outnumbered, however, by companies offering a considerable portfolio of innovations: such as purified monoclonal antibodies; and unconventional antigens, including those presenting on the surface of tumour cells. In addition, there will be a series of products for pharmaceutical packaging: standard pill bottles with neck bands or screw tops, syringes, phials, and tube vials.

There will also be a number of research and development centres, specialising in such areas as oncology.

In short, the visitor will be able to see all the best that the sector has to offer, especially in terms of the expertise on display and the emphasis on research in addition to quality. In fact, some of the major participants in the event will be the research zones, the so-called “Science Parks”, such as those in Lombardy and Piedmont, which attract some of Italy’s most important local biotech associations.

The Bio International Convention is the sector’s main event at world level, taking place annually at one of the major bio-clusters in North America. The United States have always dominated the biotech industry, thanks to the ready availability of risk capital in the country and an economic model which encourages and rewards entrepreneurship.

Both the pharmaceutical and the biotech sectors appear to have taken decisive steps towards build collaborative links and mutually beneficial relationships between their various companies, thus helping to increase efficiency and reduce costs at every level of production. In this context, it seems that many of the big pharmaceutical corporations will be looking with growing interest towards the possibility, for example, of establishing relationships with other entities in order to outsource some of their research and development activities. It is in such areas that Italian companies, with their added bonus of high quality, might have a crucial role to play.

For it is the quality of products and services on offer, above all in the R&D field of clinical trials, that will gain Italy a position of leadership in the American market, and will ensure that Italian companies come to be regarded as ideal partners.