Bio Enterprise Is Growing The Economy

Bio Enterprise Is Growing The Economy

How bio enterprise is changing the world and building New Zealand’s economic future is the key theme of NZBIO Conference 2011, the premier annual showcase for the life sciences sector. With a programme packed with top-class overseas and local speakers and highly topical sessions, the seventh NZBIO Conference will run from Monday March 21st to Wednesday March 23rd at the Sky City Convention Centre.

Co-founder of Living Cell Technologies and recent winner of the 2011 World Class New Zealander of the Year Award for Life Sciences, Emeritus Professor Bob Elliot, will address the first day’s plenary session on the subject “Making Silk Purses out of Sow’s Ears. The Story of Flying Pigs

The conference will provide a focus on the many business opportunities across the spectrum of the bioeconomy. Overseas speakers include Dr David Nicholson (Senior Vice President, Worldwide Licensing and Knowledge Management, Merck Laboratories USA), Graeme McRae (Chairman, CEO & President, Bioniche, Canada), Rhodes Scholar Dr Joshua Funder (GBS Venture Partners, Australia) and New Zealand born Dr Jilly Evans (founder and lead biologist Amira Pharmaceuticals, USA).

Over the three days the NZBIO 2011 programme will cover all aspects of the life sciences from agriculture, food and health applications through to industrial and environmental biotechnology and the development of second generation biofuel technologies. Health Select Committee chairman, Dr Paul Hutchison, a widely experienced health professional as well as an MP, will report on Parliament’s inquiry into improving New Zealand’s environment to support innovation through clinical trials. Various speakers from Scion Research, the former Forest Research Institute, will advise on how to extract fuels and bioproducts from direct cellulose fermentation and commercialise the results of biotechnology for the world market. Another topic on the programme is the potential of biotechnology to contribute to sustainable pastoral production systems by increasing productivity and improving sustainable land management. There are still developing opportunities for plant based biotechnology to increase pest resistance, drought tolerance, nutrient utilisation, energy/protein content and digestibility.

The three day programme ends with a discussion of how bio enterprise is going to change the world by a panel headed by high profile pharmaceutical scientist Sir Ray Avery and featuring several of the overseas speakers.

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