A lesson learned - when BIO is at its best - you even have to schedule your bio breaks!

My mind is still somewhat in a haze after a whirlwind few days at the recent BIO 2015 convention in Philadelphia, but I will try to extract some useful thoughts from the aftershocks! First off, shortly after returning I heard that there is to be a name change for the event; one that reflects a key buzzword at Bio 2015 - innovation. So from now on, the acronym which most conveniently will not need to change will actually represent the Biotechnology Innovation Convention!

The move was announced by Ron Cohen, who is the new Chairman of the Board at BIO, at a keynote presentation given on June 17th at the convention: 

"I'm pleased to announce that the BIO Board has approved a change in BIO's name, from the Biotechnology Industry Organization to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Still BIO, but now with a name that better expresses the essence of what our member companies represent."

It's a good thing that "Innovation" begins with an "I" because BIO has become a brand name by now, and considering changing even the acronym could have caused the planets themselves to swap positions and we don't want that! Do we?! I personally don't really see the need for the name change because biotechnology, in and of itself, represents innovation at it's best (most of the time) and I kind of liked the "Industry" aspect, but that's just me. 

Hearing about innovation in Great Britain and Northern Ireland definitely made an expat feel at home. 

The 2015 BIO Exhibition was one impressive affair, with over 1,700 exhibitors spread out over a massive 160,000 square feet, including > 60 state, regional and national pavilions, which meant that for most, there was definitely a home-away-from-home feeling to being at BIO. The floor hosted literally thousands of organisations which included the top 25 big pharma, the leading large biotechs, the top 20 CROs/CMOs and > 300 academic institutions, among many others. 

Stopping by to say hello to Quebec and Canada during a rare break in the busy meeting schedule.

For us at AmorChem, it was three days of virtually non-stop partnering meetings from dawn to dusk - okay, I might be exaggerating just a little there, but you get my drift! - which is an extremely productive form of consecutive 20-30 minute speed-dating-for-life-scientists sessions, of which we had about 60 during the convention. By and large it's a very successful format, particularly when one is somewhat ruthless about both accepting and declining meeting invites in advance of BIO, so as to meet only primarily those parties who are as potentially interested in your company as one may be in theirs. Maximising the efficient use of everyone's valuable time is key to a successful BIO, in my opinion. 

Although you do come out of it at the end somewhat shell-shocked by the exciting roster of companies you got to interact with, I think perhaps the most important and satisfying aspect of it all is either putting faces to names you have dealt with by email or phone already, or getting to put faces to names right from the get-go of a new business relationship. As digital and virtual as our world has become, nothing truly beats the face-to-face sit-down situation where some genuine human warmth can add extra dimension to the more cold and clinical analysis/discussion of scientific data.

We definitely felt the benefit of that aspect in our various meetings, and we were delighted to add in some colour to those who were acquaintances we had never met prior to BIO 2015, as well as to make full-blown acquaintances with new potential business partners during the course of the three days. The only one downside to being so busy in the partnering sessions is that one has considerably less time to patrol the exhibition floor itself, or to attend various keynote speeches and presentations, but you cannot have it all, and our full schedule at BIO 2015 was very satisfying in that it underlines that we must be doing something right!  

There were some very cool receptions that were held in various locations in and around the Philadelphia Convention Center, including those by Johnson & Johnson, Roche-Genentech and the Exhibitor Hospitality Reception held in historic Reading Terminal Market, which included great munchies and even live music on the terrace outside. It was a wonderful way to end a hard day of networking and prospecting business partnerships, wandering around taking in the wonders of Reading Terminal Market and chatting with people one had met earlier in the day. 

Wonderful smells and sights at Reading Terminal Market, just across the street from BIO 2015.

All in all it was a magnificent experience, and if you have never been to BIO, you have to go at least once. We heard at the meeting that BIO 2016 is in glorious San Francisco, and that is a definite must-not-miss for so many reasons! We certainly will be there, and we very much look forward to renewing old acquaintances as well as making new ones, and by that time we hope to have closed our second fund, AmorChem II - so we expect to have even more candidate drug assets in our expanding portfolio - in the meantime, please keep an eye on us for new developments moving forward!

PS - I would be remiss if I did not point out that on the evening before BIO 2015 began for us, our friends and colleagues at ROBIC invited us for a wonderful dinner and evening in a private room at Zahav in Philadelphia - many thanks to them for a rather magnificent way to begin our visit; one which energised us for the days that followed!