Bangalore, India, Friday, May 6th 2011: The eleventh edition of Bangalore INDIA BIO, India’s premier Biotechnology event organized by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Vision Group on Biotechnology, MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications Co and ABLE, concluded today on a high note. The event was a grand success in fulfilling the expectations of participants from India as well as overseas.

‘Biotech for a better tomorrow’ was the focal theme of Bangalore INDIA BIO 2011 and consisted of Multi-Track Conference, International Trade Show, BioPartnering India, CEO Conclave, Bio Excellence Award and a host of other events. The Multi-Track Conference consisted of 21 Sessions with 116 Speakers addressing the sessions attended by 815 Delegates from 22 countries. 12 start-ups and innovators made Podium Presentations and pitched for collaborations and investments. Large business delegations from European Business and Technology Center, France, Belgium, Denmark and Atlanta USA participated. Over all 450 organisations participated in Bangalore INDIA BIO 2011.

Exhibition consisting of about 140 participating organisations attracted 5000 visitors consisting of delegates, industry, research and academia during the 3 days of Bangalore INDIA BIO 2011. The Best International Exhibitor Award was bagged by UBI France and EBTC while the other prominent winners were Xcelris Labs, Eppendorf, Merck-Millipore, GE Healthcare and Nvidia.

Agri and Industrial Biotech Day was inaugurated today by Prof. Samir K Brahmachari, DG CSIR, Secretary to the Government of India, DSIR and delivered a Vision Talk on this occasion.

The BioPartnering India initiative received phenomenal response with over 530 business meetings.

BIO Excellence Awards were presented in the categories of Bio-Pharma, Agri-Bio, Bio-Services, Industrial-Biotech and Bio-Informatics. The selection process was conducted by ABLE.

Over 70 Young Researchers representing leading Indian and International research laboratories and institutes participated in the Poster Session and displayed their innovations. The poster award was bagged by Mr. Angshuman Biswas from the Stem Cell Research Lab, West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata for his work on cord blood banking.

The state championship for Bangalore INDIA BIO 2011 - Bio Quiz was bagged by St. Aloysius, Mangalore. Ganesh Pai and Joel Cornelius won the purse of Rs. 75, 000/-. College of Agriculture, Dharwad and New Horizon College of Engineering, Bangalore were the 1st and 2nd runners up respectively.

Many states like MP, Gujrat, Tamilnadu, Orissa, Bihar, Maharashtra participated to promote their biotech initiatives. Mr. Yashwant Singh, Department of Biodiversity & Biotechnology, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh said, “This event has brought about more awareness, so that we can improve on the methods that we are been using from the past many years and use the new methods in fostering development.”

Shri. M.N. Vidyashankar, I.A.S. - Principal Secretary to Govt., Department of IT, Biotechnology and S&T, Govt. of Karnataka, said, “This is the 11th Edition of Bangalore INDIA BIO and the event has truly become a Gateway to India for the International Biotech community. I’m glad that the Bangalore Helix project will be put on fast track with the completion of selection process . The state Government’s commitment to create much needed talent pool for the biotech sector will be met through initiatives like the biotech finishing schools project which was launched by the government of Karnataka in this event.”

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw - Chairperson, Karnataka’s Vision Group on Biotechnology, Chairman & Managing Director, Biocon Limited said, “The Biotech world is all about Partnering, Collaborations, Leveraging each other’s strengths & synergizing them to deliver affordable innovation. Its also about making sure that entrepreneurs are recognized, celebrated and born every day. This is what Bangalore INDIA BIO’s focus has always been and will do the same in years to come. Next year the conference will focus on Safety, Security and Sustainability.”

Dr. Satya Dash – COO, ABLE, said, “This conference was indeed a huge success which showcased the innovation in this sector. The sessions were of high quality and it showcased frontiers technologies such as regenerative medicines. It was also a platform for government-industry interaction especially in the regulatory landscape. ABLE is pleased to be associated with Bangalore INDIA BIO and looks forward to continued engagements and support from the government of Karnataka.”

Speaking on their participation in Bangalore INDIA BIO 2011, Ms. Shilpa Patil from the French Trade Commission – UBI FRANCE said, “This is the 3rd time companies from France have participated in the Bangalore Bio event. We are happy with the responses and looking forward to some important tie-ups. This year prominent companies like Azothis, Biopredic International, Clean Cells Domain Therapetics, Horiba Scientific and Pierre Fabre participated and held several business meetings.

The Spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Invest in Denmark Ms. Pramila Das said, “The event has been quite fascinating and has provided a good platform to apprise Indian Biotech and Pharma companies on the developments and business opportunities offered by Denmark. We have initiated several tie ups with Indian Companies interested in doing business with us. Bangalore INDIA BIO has offered a good branding experience and we are looking forward to increasing business prospects as well as building firm relationships with the companies in India. Our participation in Bangalore INDIA BIO has been quite a successful proposition. We look forward to participating in the next edition as well.”