An important part of Italian production, which has elevated the very high quality of its chemical and pharmaceutical research into an outstanding sector, is arriving in the USA, cradle of biotechnology. The reason is the Bio International Convention, a truly mobile event for sector operators and ordinary visitors, which this year will be held in Chicago (Illinois). Some of the most important companies, universities and research centres at a global level have already been participating in the event for several years.

For the 50 companies of the Italian collective, co-ordinated by the Italian Trade Commission, it is certainly an opportunity to engage with the US market that should not be missed. The market's priority is to increase possibilities of collaboration and US pharmaceutical companies are showing a growing tendency to seek innovative products to enhance their own pipelines, which are dwindling due to the imminent expiry of the patents for many “blockbuster” products. There is therefore no better opportunity for the Italian companies to make themselves known and appreciated in a country that has always dominated the biotechnology industry, due to the availability of risk capital and an economic model that facilitates and rewards entrepreneurship, and is now a fertile terrain for export.

What new products can be seen by visitors to the Italian companies’ stands? There will be markers and tests for identifying the molecular aspects of pathologies in their early stages, which are important for a better definition of the diagnostic picture (particularly with proteins, which provide a more precise assessment of the sickness) and sophisticated computerised dummies that can simulate any type of critical cardiovascular condition, both of which are the result of research developed in the important biotech centre in Sardinia. There will also be mycotised plants and other important products from the leading Italian biotech centre in Piedmont, such as reactants for electrophoresis and Genepix scanners, just to provide a few practical examples of what is made in the laboratories of the Canavese Bioindustry Park.

To sum up, the best in Italian chemical and pharmaceutical research will be represented by the collective at the Bio International Convention. The 2009 edition of the event, in Atlanta, involved the participation of 14,352 companies from 58 different countries and a slightly smaller number of visitors (14 thousand) than in previous years but nevertheless compensated by the good outcome of the partnership activities which surpassed expectations, creating fertile ground for 14,202 meetings and allowing more than 190 companies to make presentations of their products. The goals for the 2010 edition are therefore ambitious but not impossible to attain: to attract a larger number of visitors to the convention and lay the groundwork for an even larger growth in partnerships than that of last year.