TAIPEI, Taiwan, Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BioTaiwan 2017 has concluded, wrapping up another exciting round of biotech-themed meet-ups, forums, exhibitions and presentations that take place every year in Taipei, Taiwan. The week-long festival of events included the two-day BioBusiness Asia (BBA) conference, the BioTaiwan Exhibition, the Greater China & Asia-Pacific Opportunities conference, one-on-one partnering and a wide range of seminars and workshops. Overall participation numbers were impressive: 600+ companies, 1310 booths, 350+ partnering sessions, and 90,000+ visitors at the exhibition over the four days. In addition, winners of the annual 2017 Taiwan BIO Awards, showcasing local achievements and organized by the Taiwan Bio-Industry Organization, were announced during the festivities.
BioBusiness Asia Conference (BBA)
BioBusiness Asia this year featured a wide range of session themes with a particular emphasis on emerging technologies including precision medicine, next generation sequencing, artificial intelligence (AI), synthetic biology, cancer immunotherapy, and digital health.
BBA's plenary session entitled 'Trends Shaping the Global Biotech Landscape' was an exploration of technologies and discoveries shaping the current and future direction of healthcare. Speakers included Patrick Flochel, Global Pharmaceutical Life Science Leader, Ernst & Young; Tsay Yuh-geng, venture partner at life science investment firm VIVO Capital and former group president of Thermo Fisher Scientific; Timothy Lu, an associate professor at MITand serial entrepreneur; and Allen Chao, founding chairman of generic drug company Watson Pharmaceuticals and now CEO of biosimilars firm Tavex BioPharma. In sessions following over the next two days, an equally impressive line up of expert speakers treated participants to a glimpse of what's just around the corner in healthcare technology and business models behind it.
Greater China & Asia-Pacific Opportunities Conference
With the government's 'New Southbound Policy' this year, the conference broadened its coverage to include not only Greater China but also Taiwan's regional neighbors from Southeast Asia. Presentations introduced Vietnam, Indonesia, and on ASEAN-located opportunities in the health and life sciences arena.
BioTaiwan Exhibition 2017
International participation in the four-day BioTaiwan Exhibition, both booth holders and visitors, has always been healthy, and this year was particularly encouraging -- companies from fifteen countries were hosted, including Australia, the US, and Japan. Overall more than 600 companies were on show at 1310 booths, with 90,000+ visitors over the four days.
Taiwan's strengths on show at BioTaiwan 2017
BioTaiwan has grown in step with Taiwan's development as a biotech regional powerhouse and is now one of Asia'smost important biotech-themed gatherings. It's also a great chance to see first hand examples of the direction Taiwan is heading and the opportunities that are opening up, particularly with the convergence of digital and medical technologies. For example, speakers and presentations at BBA highlighted Taiwan's existing strengths in ICT, and growing capabilities in the newly emerging realms of IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (artificial intelligence); all of which are transferable to medical device development, device-drug combinations, digital health/mobile health/e-health.
With precision medicine being a focus of many of BioTaiwan's meetings, it's also clear that Taiwan is well placed to take a leading role by combining capabilities in drug development, diagnostics, devices and utilizing Big Data analytics methodology. Recognized for these capabilities, Taiwan has been invited to join in the US Cancer Moonshot program, essentially a precision medicine development initiative, set up by former Vice President Biden in 2016.
All sectors of the life science industry in Taiwan, including biotech, pharma, diagnostics and medical devices, are currently undergoing high levels of growth. With the government's goals for the industry being to foster 20 new drugs and 80 high-value medical devices in global markets, and create 10 flagship brands in health services all by 2025, with the target total revenue of NT$1 trillion (US$33 billion), and with industry confidence levels at an all time high, the outlook is extremely positive.
BioTaiwan 2017 has concluded, and it was another exciting and memorable occasion. We look forward to seeing you all again in Taipei, Taiwan for BioTaiwan 2018, July 18-22!
Contact for BioTaiwan 2018:
Taiwan Bio-Industry Organization:
Wendy Hung
E: wendy@taiwanbio.org.tw
T: +886-02-2655-8692*13
F: +886-02-2655-7419
