Our second Annual Dinner and Discussion Forum took place on Thursday 8th July at the historic Ettington Park, a spectacular neo-Gothic mansion near Stratford-on-Avon. This year's discussion forum, chaired by Meredith Lloyd-Evans, focused on the process and pitfall of internationalisation for small UK lifescience companies. Following a Pimms reception on the terrace, delegates were welcomed to the Dinner by Mike Bennett, Chairman of UK Biotechnet, who also introduced the after dinner speakers: Nigel Gaymond, CEO of the BIA, and Mark Treherne, CEO of Senexis.

View the BioPartner Annual Dinner and Discussion Forum programme

- and this report on the discussion

Click here for photographs

supported by

Hypha Discovery is a young, UK Lifescience company that is exploiting new classes of natural products from fungi: enzymes, and potential new therapeutics. In this case study, Dr Liam Evans, CEO of Hypha Discovery, describes how he has taken advantage of opportunities provided by BioPartner, coupled with financial assistance provided by UK Trade & Investment, to break into overseas markets.
Download the case study

BioPartner.co.uk took 37 delegates from 27 companies to Barcelona for BIO-Europe Spring. Each company benefited from a substantial discount on the entry fee, brokered by BioPartner, and we managed successful TAP fund applications for 22 companies, totalling £22,800. We organised the UK exhibition stand, providing a focal point for the delegation as well as an opportunity to promote the individual companies through logo placement and literature display. Further opportunities included a discounted presentation slot at the conference.
For more information on the UK companies that took part in the delegation, including seminar presentations by Isogenica's Kevin Matthews and Mo Alavijeh of Pharmidex, check our dedicated webpage.
We took some photos too - see them here.

If you would like to join our next delegation to BIO-Europe or BIO-Europe Spring, please visit our UK Delegation page.

BioPartner.co.uk managed the selection process for the 2009 UK Trade & Investment Internationalisation Awards. presented at the Genesis Conference Awards Dinner, 10th December, in London. The awards are designed to recognise companies that are successful in exploiting UKTI services to grow their business internationally - through expert advice and assistance, commissioned market reports and Tradeshow Access Programme grants.

Manchester-based Epistem, the leading epithelial stem cell company, won the Internationalise Your Business Award for the most successful expansion into new markets using UKTI services. The award reflects the rapid recent expansion of its business, working with larger pharmaceutical companies in new overseas markets building on the successful presence which it has achieved in the UK (Press Release).
Other nominated companies for this award were: BioFocus DPI, Eden Biodesign, Epistem, Neem Biotech, Winscribe Europe.

The UKTI Assisted Newcomer of the Year Award for first use of UKTI services for internationalisation, and most successful first export, went to Cambridge Temperature Concepts for their spectacular growth from an investment funded startup to international exporter in the space of a single year.
The runners up were Bio Nano Consulting and Crystec Pharma. CTC were simultaneously nominated for the ACES awards, held on the same day at a ceremony in Paris where UK companies picked up three of the six awards presented.

Now in its seventh year, BBE is an established UK event in the business partnering calendar for biotechnology SMEs seeking international partners. It is uniquely placed as a free event for cross-sector business interactions in an intensive, full-day partnering format. This UK Trade & Investment event is designed to maximise international interactions for UK companies. BioPartner has managed BBE each year since 2005. Using the special configuration functions of our Meeting Mojo™ online partnering software, we ensure that UK company delegates who attend BBE are automatically given exclusivity when requesting meetings with international visitors.
Fast facts from BBE2009:

• 561 business partnering meetings
• 199 delegates
• 132 companies
• 91 UK companies
• 42 non-UK companies
• 34 UKTI & overseas consulate registrations
• 19 countries represented
• Average 8.5 meetings per company

The next BBE event is scheduled for 10th December 2010.

BioPartner led a delegation of 14 UK companies to BIO-Europe in Vienna on November 1st 2009. We made all the arrangements, including delegate registration and payments, and processing TAP grant applications. Benefits taken up by members of the delegation included discounted event fees and hotel accommodation, speaking slots in the UK country seminar, literature display, and company profile at the UK pavilion. The delegation was very successful - here are some of our delegates' comments:

- Extremely satisfied. We really appreciate the support from UKTI & BioPartner.
- Superb and very well organised. Thanks.
- Well organised and executed. Many valuable contacts made.
- Excellent, exceeded our expectations. UKTI really improved the outcomes for us.
- Attending as part of UK mission helped me to network, benefiting from the contacts made through other UK contacts.
- Many thanks and congratulations to BioPartner & UKTI for the assistance they gave ... their administration was smooth and the additional networking was useful. I am confident this conference will lead to new business in 12-24 months.
- We had a chance to promote our company's services through presentation and meet new and existing collaborators. A very good chance of securing new business through attending

Next delegation: Bio-Europe Spring, 8-10 March, Barcelona

Our Inaugural Annual Dinner and Discussion Forum took place on Thursday 30th July at the historic Weston Manor Hotel. This formal occasion started with a drinks reception on the terrace, sponsored by BioBridge Ltd. to celebrate 20 years of business. Dinner, sponsored by UK Trade & Investment, was served in the Baronial Hall, with after dinner speeches from Dr Rob Hockney of Partnering Excellence Ltd and Dr Roland Kozlowski of Lectus Therapeutics. The afternoon discussion forum, chaired by Dr Enda Gribbon, focused on addressing the current global challenges affecting our industry.

View the BioPartner Annual Dinner and Discussion Forum programme
- and this report on the discussion

Click here for photographs

supported by

BioPartner is a founder and excutive committee member of the UK BiotechNet group of experts.
We co-ordinate this expanding pool of expertise, providing a resource for start-ups and overseas companies locating into the UK.

BioPartner is a founder and partner in Meeting Mojo partnering software.
This inexpensive, easy to use system saves time for event managers. Our clients include:

• Anglo Nordic Biotech Conference V, VI, VII
• BBE 2005-2009
• BioNetwork 2009
• BioBusiness 2009, 2010
• Biotech in Europe Investor Forum 2009
• Life Science Investment Day Scandinavia 2009
• MaRS Future of Medicine Conference 2009
• UK at Medica Online Partnering Directory 2007, 2008

e.g. BBE, UK Medicon Valley Bioscience Alliance 2006-08, UK BioEntrepreneurial Company of the Year Awards 2007.

• Review, research and written contributions to marketing materials and media articles e.g.
  • UK Bioscience brochure 2007
  • Biotech clusters - supporting the UK as Europe's No 1 in Bioscience
  • Oxfordshire Biotechnology Cluster Report
• Facilitating confidential meetings between UK and overseas companies
• Consultancy and Feasibility studies to survey key stakeholders and inform Clients' strategy
• Information searches commissioned by entrepreneurs, companies and support organisations
• Corporate website and email for start-up companies, introductions to UK services