Biocat and Eurobiomed sign agreement to drive partnering
Eurobiomed is the life sciences cluster in Montpellier, which brings together more than 400 companies, 8 universities, 400 research groups and 10,000 workers.
Jacquie Berthe, president of Eurobiomed, the life sciences cluster in Montpellier, and Manel Balcells, president of the Biocat Executive Committee, signed an agreement yesterday to drive collaboration in the life sciences field.
Eurobiomed is the healthcare competitiveness pole for the Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence–Alps-Côte d'Azur regions, with the cities of Montpellier, Nice and Marseille as economic centers of a cluster that brings together more than 400 companies, 8 universities, 400 research groups and more than 10,000 jobs directly related to the life sciences sector. The cluster received the French government’s top rating in their 2009 audit to evaluate French competitiveness poles and is thus a first-rate partner in France. This cluster’s strengths are concentrated particularly in medical technology, diagnostics and infectious diseases.
According to the presidents of these two clusters, the newly signed agreement will strengthen bilateral relations in the framework of this collaboration network. The actions planned to be carried out include organizing partnering meetings for companies in both areas, promoting joint participation in European projects and facilitating access to foreign countries and markets that the signatories have collaboration agreements with, among others.
Biocat and Eurobiomed are founding members of the euro-regional life sciences network, the Southern Europe Biocluster, which also includes the clusters from Toulouse and the Balearic Islands.
The agreement, which will initially last one year, is part of Biocat’s strategy to promote international cooperation and cluster consolidation by supporting technology transfer.