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ITALIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY PRESENTED IN THE USA
Rome (Ign) - Many industrial fields have now taken on an extremely important role for many Italian national economic systems, and yet they are relatively unknown to the general public. One of the many industries that falls into this category is biotechnology which, over recent years, has become one of the most important propelling hubs for research and technological innovation. This will actually be the main feature at the "Bio International Convention" (www.bio2007.org), the most important American event in the industry, which will be held in Boston from 6th to 9th May at the Convention & Exhibition Center. The US biotechnology market is constantly growing; in 2006 it saw a turnover of over $ 50 billion, representing a market opening of utmost importance for Italian companies, especially in some niche areas of excellence, such as diagnostics and artificial materials. For this reason, the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) and Assobiotec, the industry association, are organising Italy's participation with the aim of making the Italian industry known and bringing it closer to the American market.
To tell the truth Italy has never really skimped on research: according to data included in the last report by the Foundation for Technological Innovation - Cotec (www.cotec.it) relative to 2004, the investments for biotechnology research amounted to just under € 370 million. Furthermore, the companies have invested 80% of the total corporate funding for production support services in research. Constant growth has been seen which at the end of 2006 - according to the Assobiotec report (http://assobiotec.federchimica.it/) - brought about over € 4 billion in turnover, generated by over 200 companies and 14,000 employees, almost all of whom work in R&S. This data certainly justifies the high level reached by Italian research in some of the most important sub-categories of biotechnology: in the medical field, the Italian transplant centres are number one on an international level in terms of quality, professionalism and availability of cutting-edge machinery designed by the best experts whose value is enhanced by the worthiest researchers in the field who used them. Robotics and mechatronics are also success stories for Italy worldwide, together with the helicopter and space radar industries. And in the traditional industries, such as metallurgy and construction materials, resorting to the discoveries made by the research and development section has permitted market renewal and the consequent growth in competitiveness on the global market.
The following data explains the high level reached by Italian research in some of the most important sub-categories of biotechnology: in the medical field, the Italian transplant centres are number one on an international level in terms of quality, professionalism, availability of cutting-edge machinery designed by the best experts whose value is enhanced by the worthiest researchers in the field who used them; robotics and mechatronics applied in the biotechnology and medical field also represent Italy's strengths worldwide, together with the vast division of diagnostics and material synthesis for prosthetic applications.
Italian industry in the biotechnology field has certainly made up for the delays of the '80s and is now among the leaders both in Europe and worldwide. This significant result has been obtained through an integrated, but extremely ductile and elastic system, which has been able to respond quickly to demand formation. This is a system made up of small and medium-sized companies animated by researchers of international intellect, technology parks and public and private research institutes. Synergy between all the components has made it possible to achieve exceptional results in a relatively short time and promises further development in the future.
PARTICIPATING ITALIAN COMPANIES
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