One of the themes to emerge from BIO 2009 is the desire of many different countries around the world to attract biotech companies, with European nations and US states offering incentives to promote themselves in a marketplace filled with low cost options in emerging markets.
To help attract business the ambassador said that the EUR1.5bn that the French government earmarked for biotech clusters from 2006 to 2008 would be matched over the next two years and that this, coupled to the low cost of clinical trials in the country, would help the sector progress.
BIO 2009
"[ We are] promoting innovation... and greater collaboration between science and industry "
HEM Pierre Vimont, Ambassador of France to the US.
By supporting these bio clusters Vimont believes that France is promoting a model of "energy, intelligence and audacity".
Vimont went on to suggest that the French government would continue to support biotech in the coming years, comparing the sector to other large scale projects it has undertaken, such as its nuclear power programme.
Joining Vimont at the press conference were Philippe Archinard, president of Lyonbiopôle and vice chairman of EuropaBio, and Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO, who said France had made "an extraordinary effort in the advancement of biotechnology".
