2014 Call for Sessions
2014 Program: Call for Sessions
Looking to promote your ideas as an industry leader in healthcare, the environment, food and agriculture and more? Hoping to share what your country or region is doing in the field of biotechnology?
Consider submitting a session proposal for the 2014 BIO International Convention program.
Proposals will be accepted from September 5 through October 3, 2013. Notification regarding acceptance or rejection of Call for Session proposals will be sent to the submitter in early January 2014 by email. An accurate email address is critical. If you have not received an email notification by January 6, 2014, contact Sara Cribari via email at program@bio.org.
To ensure that you are able to receive email correspondence from BIO, please make sure that your email software can receive mail from the bio.org domain.
Please reach out to program@bio.org with questions.
The 2013 Program
The 2013 BIO International Convention program featured more than 125 breakout sessions in 15 topic areas covering a wide variety of topics relevant to the biotechnology industry including healthcare, environmental issues, food and agriculture, and industrial applications.
2013 Session Tracks and Topics
- Achieving Regulatory Approval and Compliance:
Regulatory and legal developments at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and across the globe that will affect biotech companies’ ability to research and develop biopharmaceuticals, successfully bring these products to market, and maintain approval and compliance. - Biofuels & Biobased Chemicals:
Presentations in this track deal with breakthrough industrial biotechnologies for biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biobased products. These technologies help to unlock cleaner and greener sources of energy, create new materials, food ingredients, and other products, make manufacturing processes cleaner and more efficient, and reduce industrial waste. - Biotech Patenting and Tech Transfer:
Discussion of intellectual property protection for biotech innovations and pragmatic approaches to challenges and opportunities in global biotech licensing, tech transfer, and collaborations. - Business Development:
Analysis of the latest biotech partnering, licensing and alliance deal trends. Prior session topics in this track have also included commercialization, start-up strategies for entrepreneurs, deal structures and alliance management. - Drug Discovery & Development:
Discovery research, preclinical safety assessment, clinical trials, and more. - Finance:
Analysis of the latest biotech financing and investment trends. Panel topics in this category should focus on fundraising for private or public biotech companies. Prior session topics in this track have also included venture models, early-stage vs. late stage venture environment, alternative financing options (government, foundations, debt, etc.), exits (M&A, IPOs), PIPEs, CVRs and policy trends in capital formation. - Food & Agriculture:
Will address the challenges facing agricultural biotechnology today, including consumer attitudes, awareness and consumption trends; the influence of international trade; how society can better realize the technology’s potential by combining lessons learned with new tools and greater scientific understanding; and other issues that affect the ability to successfully meet domestic and global demands. - Market Access & Commercialization:
Emerging health policy issues and key developments impacting the market and reimbursement landscape for innovative biopharmaceutical therapies. BIO is seeking submissions related to policy developments related to accountable care organizations (ACOs), specifically the role of biopharmaceuticals within ACOs; Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and comparative effectiveness research; health insurance exchanges, the essential benefits package, and the impact on drug formularies; the shifting role of Medicaid and impact on biopharmaceuticals; investor perspectives on reimbursement; federal budget cuts and proposals on entitlement reform and preserving innovation; and the IPAB and the impact on biopharmaceuticals. - Innovations & Opportunities in Vaccines:
This track focuses on the latest developments in preventive and therapeutic vaccines as well as evolving policies and paradigms that affect global business opportunities in this field. Sessions range from moderated discussions regarding new partnership models in emerging markets to advanced presentations on companies’ cutting edge vaccine research and clinical trial data. - International Spotlights and Policy:
Biotechnology is a global endeavor with the potential to yield innovative products and technologies to address global challenges. Biotechnology innovation is an engine of economic growth. Many countries have thus made the development of a biotechnology sector an economic priority and put significant resources into its development. This track will look at many of these markets to identify innovation systems and the efficacy of specific policy initiatives that have been implemented to help spur biotechnology innovation. Highlights include an entire day dedicated to biotechnology in the four BRIC nations, in addition to several individual country and issue-specific panels. - International Market Briefings:
45-minute sessions where countries and regions around the world will present specific initiatives to generate promising new discoveries, create jobs, and spur economic growth and development. - Manufacturing of Biologics & Drugs:
Recent developments in biologics and drug manufacturing, including quality-by-design, process analytical technology, compliance activities, and supply chain management. - Personalized Medicine & Diagnostics:
From R&D, through regulatory oversight, to reimbursement, health information technology and patient access: the development of novel diagnostic technologies and the related therapeutics that they target in the evolving healthcare system.