Bavaria presents itself at Biolatina 2008 in Brazil
The 8th Latin American Congress was accompanied for the first time by a German-Brazilian Biotechnology Forum. The 700 visitors were able to gain information about the state of biotechnology in Latin America at the conference from 50 lecturers from 11 countries. According to current report, in Brazil alone there are presently 181 Life Science companies, of these 71 biotechnology enterprises. 75 % of the companies are small to midsized companies and seeking international contacts. The BioTech-Cluster Fundação Biominas as promoter of Biolatina was founded in 1990 in Belo Horizonte and with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has put in place various programmes for the development of young biotechnology companies. The BioM AG in Munich and BioPark Regensburg GmbH have been talking since 2004 upon the initiative of the Bavarian representative in Brazil regarding a cooperation agreement with Fundação Biominas.
Not only young companies from the Biotech-Region Regensburg cooperate with Brazilian companies. There is also an exchange programme between the University of Regensburg and the State University of Belo Horizonte/Minas Gerais. As representative of the Bavarian Biotechnology Cluster managing director Dr. Thomas Diefenthal had the opportunity to give a lecture on cluster development in Bavaria in the series of lectures at Biolatina.
In parallel at the German-Brazilian Forum, the managing director of the company BioGents AG from Regensburg, Markus Siegers, gave a lecture on the biological development of special attractants for the surveillance and control of mosquitoes, which carry various viral diseases such as dengue fever. This project is currently being worked on collaterally in Manaus with the Amazonas State University and the Amazonas Tropical Medicine Foundation, which is supported by the State of Manaus and the World Bank. By invitation of the German-Brazilian Forum, Dr. Thomas Diefenthal gave a lecture on the development and significance of Biotech Parks for young companies with reference to Regensburg and Belo Horizonte.
With the Bavarian representative in Brazil, Mr. Martin Langewellpott, further contacts to the Latin American Biotech scene could be formed in partnering and at the trade fair stand of Bayern International, which was run by Mr. Torsten Wagner and Mr. Dirk Lauterbach of the Nuremberg Global Fairs. Here amongst other conversations, there was dialogue with the Vice President of the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the Secretary for Science and Technology in Brazil.
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