The Prince Edward Island Bioscience Cluster will celebrate Global Biotechnology Week 2018 from September 24 – 30th, with activities focused on recognizing the many partners that work together to support the growth and development of bioscience-based businesses in the province.

Since 2006, the Province of Prince Edward Island has marked biotechnology week each year with an official declaration and by participating in industry activities. Since that time, the number of biotech companies in PEI has grown from a dozen to more than 55, with the number of employees more than tripling to over 1600.

Providing incubation and accelerator services to attract and support emerging companies is a priority for the BioAlliance. So too, is growing the industry’s local talent pool, attracting more high-quality business opportunities for PEI, and increasing national and international recognition of the province’s bioscience sector.

“We are expanding our networks within the global biotech sector, while continuing to build our capacity here in PEI,“ says Dr. Russ Kerr, Chair of the BioAlliance and Research Fellow, Nautilus Biosciences Croda.

“From hosting International events, attracting new businesses, and planning for key infrastructure, to operating the Emergence Business Incubator, we are working to build an outstanding ecosystem for bio-businesses. We really have a dedicated team of business, academic, research, and government partners working to build the bio-economy in Prince Edward Island,” said Dr. Kerr.

On September 24th, the BioAlliance, through its Emergence Business Incubator will host a founders and mentors mash-up event to inspire current and future entrepreneurs – highlighting four local companies who will share their lessons of technology development, raising capital, managing growth, and creating value within the biotech industry. Participants will also have a chance to hear insights from Emergence mentors. Keynote speaker Ken Rotondo, CEO of Mind Genomics, will discuss applying machine learning to deliver effective and personalized messaging to clients within the healthcare industry.

More information on this event can be found here. The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance is a member of Canadian BioAccord, led by national industry organization BIOTECanada, dedicated to the advancement of a globally competitive Canadian biotechnology ecosystem.

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Biotech week backgrounder

Global Biotech Week serves to recognize industry’s past success and to highlight the significant opportunity Canadian biotechnology innovation presents for the Canadian economy in the context of the emerging bio-economy and the opportunities presented by global population growth and demographic shifts.

Canada was the first country to originate a national Biotech Week back in 2003. What began as a modest advocacy and awareness string of events involving provincial partners, grew into a national success story, gaining traction and snowballed into encouraging the European Union and Australia to establish their own annual week of events in 2016.

By joining in on the Global Biotech Week festivities, organizations and companies will be raising awareness of the industry and its global potential amongst policymakers, policy influencers, and the general public.

For more information, contact: Rose FitzPatrick rose@peibioalliance.com (902) 367-4403/ (902) 393-0306