Number of visitors and business opportunities reach new highs
Inaugural BIO Asia Awards presented, and expansion of conference into three tracks highlight Taiwan as important partner for biotech development in Asia
With the final day of the four-day BIO Asia–Taiwan 2024 Exhibition concluding today, the BIO Asia-Taiwan 2024 series of events draws to a close. This year’s exhibition with the theme ‘Global View, Asian Touch’, brought together more than 900 major companies and institutions from 20 countries and regions, in over 2,200 booths. One-to-one business meetings exceeded the same period last year by 70 percent, more than 8,000 in total.
In spite of a typhoon affecting Taiwan, the number of visitors to the BIO Asia–Taiwan 2024 exhibition reached a new high, exceeding 120,000. In addition, more than 2,000 people participated in the conference held alongside the exhibition. 40 percent of this year’s attendees were from abroad, with Japan, the United States, and South Korea having the largest number of attendees, reflecting the increasing international profile of BIO Asia–Taiwan.
Johnsee Lee, BIO Asia–Taiwan Chairman, explained that this year’s occasion held many firsts, including expanding the conference into three parallel tracks, holding the inaugural BIO Asia Awards, and concurrently hosting the Taiwan Startup World Cup (TSWC) for the first time. Despite the bad weather, venues were full throughout. BIO Asia–Taiwan 2024 as a successful communication and business engagement platform for both local and overseas attendees was highly evident, said Lee.
Inaugural BIO Asia Awards presented, recognizing contributions towards Asia;
Japanese venture capitalist George Hara and Takeda Pharmaceutical winners
Chairman Lee said that at the opening ceremony of this year’s exhibition, in addition to holding the annual Taiwan BIO Awards ceremony to recognize 19 Taiwanese entities for their outstanding development and future potential, in order to promote cross-regional exchanges and cooperation in Asia, the international committee had organized the first ever BIO Asia Awards to recognize institutions or individuals for their contributions to the overall development of biotechnology and public health services in Asia.
The inaugural winner of this year’s BIO Asia Awards in the institutional category was Takeda Pharmaceuticals, in recognition of its contribution to establishing ‘iPark’ in Shonan, Japan, and promoting innovative development in the Asia-Pacific region. The individual winner was George Hara, Chairman and CEO of DEFTA Partners Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alliance Forum Foundation. Hara is also Special Advisor to the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister of Japan, amongst other titles. Hara has long assisted developing countries in their efforts eliminating malnutrition, improving education and health care, and promoting economic independence and empowerment. Hara is also a board member of the World Economic Forum (Davos) on the Global Agenda and Inclusive Growth.
In addition, BIO Asia–Taiwan this year hosted the Taiwan Startup World Cup (TSWC), which was ultimately won by Jmem in the information security category, Wellgen in the biomedical imaging system, and Generative AI MangaX, a cognitive behavioral therapy company. Dentall, a dental professional service platform in Taiwan, won the PwC New Innovation Special Award. The first place winners will receive a support of NT$300,000 and travel to California to participate in the global finals to compete for an investment opportunity of US$1 million.
BIO Asia–Taiwan Exhibition hosted 21 special zones showcasing industry trends and achievements, with companies from 20 countries participating
The BIO Asia–Taiwan Exhibition this year comprised of 21 special zones, including: Pharmaceutical Equipment and Instruments, Medicine and Medical Materials, International Pharmaceuticals, Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMO), Precision Medicine, a National Pavilion zone, Cell therapy and Regenerative Medicine, Precision Health and Smart Medicine, Biosimilars, Biotech Services, Contract Research Organizations (CRO), New Innovations, Government Research Institutes, Industry-Academia Incubation zone, and others.
This year, companies from 20 countries/regions participated. The United States, Belgium, India, Switzerland, Australia, Japan, Austria, Poland, Philippines, Canada, and Thailand also set up national pavilions. Hong Kong HKBIO and representative units of BIOJAPAN from Japan also participated to promote their upcoming industry gatherings; all a reflection of the international importance of the exhibition and of BIO Asia-Taiwan itself. Multinational companies such as Takeda, BMS, BD, IQVIA, Thermo Fisher, and GenScript Biotech also had booths.
Chairman Lee mentioned that this year was the sixth year that the BIO Asia–Taiwan had been held. Although three of those years were affected by the epidemic, the effectiveness of BIO Asia–Taiwan as an international business engagement and communications platform is now fully realized, with the number of attendees increasing year by year accordingly. With Taiwan’s biotechnology industry growing, the importance of its technological development is also becoming recognized internationally. With next year’s BIO Asia–Taiwan gathering set to be held from July 23 to 27, Lee said he looks forward to continuing to bring such an effective communication platform to Asia’s bio-industry ecosystem.
Conference expands into three parallel tracks: Innovation Forum, Investment Summit, and Regional Cooperation Forum series
The three-day BIO Asia–Taiwan Conference, which began July 24, for the first time was expanded into three parallel tracks: the Innovation Forum, the Investment Summit and the Regional Cooperation Forum series.
On the first day’s Plenary Session, a representative from company development icon Flagship Pioneering gave a keynote speech. Chairman Lee mentioned that Taiwan can learn from Flagship’s development and resource utilization model, and he hoped that Taiwan can have the opportunity to become a part of Flagship Pioneering’s cooperation network in the Asia-Pacific region.
In addition, the conference also invited Zhang Feng, Tang Prize winner and Harvard-MIT Chair Professor; Miguel Forte, President of the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), and Zubin J. Daruwalla, founder of Hirux and head of PwC Singapore’s health business unit; and Anis Uzzaman, founder of Pegasus Tech Ventures, one of the top three venture capital firms in Silicon Valley to give speeches on the first day of the conference.
Wallace Lin, secretary-general of the Taiwan Bio Industry Organization (Taiwan BIO), explained that the Innovation Forum focused on trends in the biotechnology industry as well as the latest technological developments. A total of 13 conference sessions were held, with topics covering gene editing, regenerative medicine, digital health, CDMO precision health, and others.
Meanwhile, the Investment Summit focused on matching companies with investors. This inaugural event attracted more than 50 venture capital investors covering the entire development life cycle from individuals, angel investors, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions experts and strategic investors. The Regional Cooperation Forum series featured seven separate country forums, with more than 40 companies and promotion bodies making presentations. Each country not only introduced its characteristics and advantages, but also discussed regulations, clinical development, business cooperation opportunities, public health and other issues.
