On June 20th, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) concluded its 2008 International Convention. More than 20,000 attendees from over 2,100 biotech companies, organizations, and institutions -- including Patent Docs authors (and MBHB attorneys) Donald Zuhn, Sherri Oslick, and Kevin Noonan (below) -- were in attendance at this year's International Convention in San Diego.
In addition to the BIO Exhibition, where biotech exhibitors set up shop in a BIO-record 208,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Convention included 175 breakout sessions in 21 educational tracks featuring more than 1,000 speakers (see "2008 BIO International Convention Draws Global Industry Leaders and Public Officials for Networking, Deal Making and Partnering"). Patent Docs has since presented a series of reports on a number of the Convention's breakout sessions (see links below).
At the conclusion of this year's Convention, BIO announced that the next five Conventions would take place in:
• Atlanta -- May 18-21, 2009,
• Chicago -- May 3-6, 2010,
• Washington, DC -- June 26-30, 2011,
• Las Vegas -- June 25-28, 2012, and
• Chicago -- April 22-25, 2013.
The 2014 and 2015 Conventions have been tentatively scheduled for San Diego (June 24-27, 2014) and Boston (June 22-25, 2015). The BIO press release noted that all seven of the upcoming Conventions would begin on a Monday and close on a Thursday (as opposed to the Tuesday through Friday schedule of BIO 2008).
Looking forward to BIO 2009 in Atlanta, BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood stated that the Convention "will help showcase the regional biotechnology community and drive further biotech investment throughout the Southeastern United States." Mr. Greenwood also noted that the Convention "has grown from an intimate industry gathering to a major global event, with more than one-third international attendance, including the most prominent industry leaders and public officials from around the world."
Founded in 1993, BIO is a nonprofit association seeking supportive biotechnology policies on behalf of more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers, and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations, as well as providing business development services for many emerging biotech companies.
For additional information on this and other related topics, please see:
• "Docs at BIO: Panel Discusses IP Strategies after KSR," June 26, 2008
• "Docs at BIO: "Gotcha" Games Continue at USPTO," June 25, 2008
• "Docs at BIO: Panel Discusses Impact of USPTO Rules Changes and Patent Reform Legislation on Biotech Patenting," June 23, 2008
• "Docs at BIO: Representatives from JPO, EPO, SIPO, and USPTO Discuss Recent Developments in Japan, Europe, China, and the U.S.," June 22, 2008
• "Docs at BIO: Steve Burrill's State of the Biotechnology Industry Report 2008," June 19, 2008
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