Our Work

Our 3rd Annual Dinner and Discussion Forum took place on Tuesday 21st June, 2011 in Nottingham. We kept to the popular format of previous years, consisting of a panel-led, free flowing discussion in the afternoon followed by a drinks reception and full dinner with speeches presented by leaders from the UK life sciences industry.

2011's Discussion Forum held at BioCity was entitled "Going to America". With BIO starting a few days later, our panel-led discussion focused on the merits - or otherwise - of setting up in the US. As a funding, sales or exit strategy, is it inevitable that UK innovation has to cross the Atlantic to realise its full commercial potential?

After the Discussion we transferred to Colwick Hall for a drinks and networking reception - kindly sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP - before a four-course evening meal. Dinner was followed by after dinner speeches by our chosen captains of the industry: Nigel Gaymond, Chief Executive of the BIA, and Stefan Ogrodzinski, CEO of BioStatus Ltd.

View the BioPartner Annual Dinner and Discussion Forum programme

- and this report on the discussion

BioPartner.co.uk took 37 delegates from 27 companies to Barcelona for BIO-Europe Spring in 2010, and 48 delegates from 32 companies to Milan in 2011. Each company benefited from a substantial discount on the entry fee, brokered by BioPartner, and we managed successful TAP fund applications for 22 and 26 companies, totalling £48,800. 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 discounted presentation slots at the conferences.

If you would like to join our next delegation, and for more information on the UK companies that took part in these delegations, check our dedicated webpage.

2011 Comments:

- Excellent support and facilitation

- Organisation and support from BioPartner was impressive

- Biopartner really help to raise our profile, and go out of their way to help us make relevant connections

- Excellent assistance which enabled us to 100% focus on the business partnering

BioPartner led delegations of 15 UK companies to BIO-Europe, Vienna November 2009, and 40 companies to Munich in November 2010. We made all the arrangements, including delegate registration and payments, and processing TAP grant applications totalling £48,000. Benefits taken up by members of the delegation included discounted event fees and hotel accommodation, speaking slots in the UK country seminar (2009), literature display, and company profile at the UK pavilion, enhanced profile in the online and printed directory. Here are some of our 2010 delegates' comments:

- BioPartner very effectively provide a base and invaluable support to companies

- BioPartner's assistance was invaluable

- The assistance I received in obtaining further savings and additional advantages was exceptional.

- BioPartner staff – A top class act! Always on hand to give quality information and assistance

Next Bio-Europe delegation: 30 Oct - 2 Nov 2011, Dusseldorf

Working with the Canadian network, Life Sciences BC, we organised and led the first UK delegation to BioPartnering North America, which was held in Vancouver, between 29 February and 1 March 2011. This 10th edition of BPN welcomed 800+ delegates, including 497 companies from 28 countries. Our UK Delegation included CDSS (now renamed Illingworth Research), Domainex, Oxford Expression Technologies, Q-Chip and others. We distributed £6,000 of TAP grant funding, and 14 companies took up our discounts and subsidised conference package.

Working with ASEBIO, the Spanish Bioindustry Association, we organised and led the first ever UK delegation to BIOSPAIN, which was held this yer in Pamplona, Navarra, between 29 September and 1 October 2010. This 5th edition of BIOSPAIN transformed the previous national event into a fully international conference with 1400 delegates, including 150 visitors from 38 countries.
Our UK Delegation included regulatory strategists CDSS, stem cell and biomarker specialists Epistem, and natural products experts Hypha Discovery, enjoyed a packed conference agenda with breakout sessions, an exhibition hall on 2 levels with 160 exhibitors, an investment track and more than 2,500 one-on-one partnering meetings. Over 450 Spanish companies, academic institutes, support organisations and investors attended, presenting a showcase of the country’s lifescience sector.
Members of the Delegation were both surprised and delighted by the range and depth of commercial leads presented by the Spanish lifescience sector.

Click here for our press release

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 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.

Run by BioPartner for 6 consecutive years on behalf of UK Trade & Investment, BBE was the only full-day partnering conference for the Life Sciences in the UK, uniquely placed as a free event for cross-sector business interactions. The event was designed to maximise international interactions for UK companies: using the special configuration functions of our Meeting Mojo™ online partnering software, we ensured that UK company delegates who attended BBE were automatically given exclusivity when requesting meetings with international visitors.

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.

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.
  • Company directories for Medica and Arab Health exhibitors 2009-10
  • 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