Program offered by Canadian Consulate in Barcelona invites Catalan biotech firms to Montreal
This initiative includes visits to key organizations in the sector, prestigious companies and research centers on 14 and 15 June 2012.
BY BIOCAT
The Canadian Consulate in Barcelona and the Canadian Embassy in Sweden are organizing, in conjunction with their regional office in Quebec and institutions in the Canadian biotechnology sector, a two-day program in Montreal for biotechnology companies (14 and 15 June 2012), just before the BIO Boston convention (United States).
The Montreal-Quebec biotechnology cluster is the most important in Canada alongside the one in Toronto-Ontario, and one of the leading clusters in North America in number of biotechnology, biopharmacy and life sciences companies and organizations, as well as in the quality of research and development carried out there. The sector in Quebec has more than 240 companies that employ 5,500 people.
The cluster in Montreal is rich in basic and clinical research, expertise in the development of new drugs, entrepreneurs in fields like bioinformatics and medical technology, as well as in manufacturing brand-name and generic drugs, and concentrates a large number of pharmaceutical companies.
This city is also home to world-renowned research centers such as the Génome Québec Innovation Centre, McGill University, the National Research Council Biotechnology Research Institute and the Institute of Research in Immunology and Cancer.
The Montreal cluster specializes in sectors like neuroscience, oncology, cardiology, genomics and proteomics, vaccine development, immunology and medical technology, among others.
What does the Montreal program offer?
The program is geared toward biotechnology companies from Spain and Sweden and features sessions including:
- Visits to key organizations and renowned research centers in the sector
- Visits to companies
- Presentations of the clusters (from Spain, Montreal-Quebec and Sweden)
- Short company presentations
- Networking events with companies from Montreal-Quebec,
- The opportunity to participate in one-to-one meetings between companies from Spain and Montreal, organized beforehand according to company profiles and common interests
Participation is free of charge, but each participant must pay their own travel expenses (flights, accommodations, transportation and meals).
Why should you participate?
- To establish contact with participating companies and extend your network of contacts with the most important biotechnology clusters in the world.
- To identify and propose new projects, alliances, and agreements for research, co-development, technology transfer, licensing and marketing in a variety of areas and disciplines with companies in Quebec.
- To have the chance to get a first-hand look at the top research centers and organizations in the world, and the work and projects being carried out.
- To discover breakthroughs in the Canadian biopharmaceutical sectors.
Logistical information
Participating companies should arrive in Montreal on 13 June in order to participate in the program starting first thing in the morning on 14 June. After the second day of the program (15 June), participants can travel directly to Boston.
Boston is approximately one hour from Montreal (direct flight). For information on airlines with direct flights from Spain to Montreal: www.airtransat.es and www.aircanada.com. Companies like KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways also fly to Montreal with layovers in Europe.
To confirm attendance (before 13 January 2012):
Canadian Consulate in Barcelona (Aurora Polo)
Tel. +34 93 270 3616
Aurora.PoloFerrer@international.gc.ca