BIO 2002

The BIO 2002 Annual Convention & Exhibition provided the biotechnology industry with unprecedented international opportunities in networking, media exposure, partnering, technology transfer, market introduction/expansion and professional development. The Toronto convention gave BIO unique opportunities to discuss and promote good public policy within Canada and around the world, with record numbers of Canadian and other non-U.S. government officials in attendance.

For the first time, non-U.S. attendees (8,900) outnumbered conference participants from the United States (about 6,850). Canada accounted for 4,700 registrants.

BIO ACTIONS

• Registered 15,700 attendees, an increase of about 15 percent over 2001.

• Hosted Tommy G. Thompson, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, and his counterpart from Health Canada, Minister Anne McClellan, as well as Canadian Minister of Industry Allan Rock and several other members of the Canadian national government.

• 		BIO Chairman David Robinson (left), Canadian Minister of Industry Allan Rock and Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton cut the ribbon on the BIO 2002 exhibit hall.

  Attracted a record 5,000+ job seekers to the BIO 2002 Career Fair (double the previous record).

• Hosted a HealthFest event at the Ontario Science Center that brought in 5,500 members of the public.

• In conjunction with the Biotechnology Institute, BIO
  • expanded the minority fellowship program to include the native Canadian Inuit population,

  • took the Teachers Professional Development Program international, attracting teachers from outside North America, and

  • took the BioGENEius program nationwide across Canada.

• Hosted more than 1,200 booths in the exhibit hall, 35 percent more than at BIO 2001.

• Organized 2,500+ one-on-one partnering meetings at the Business Forum (double the number at BIO 2001). BIO used state-of-the-art software to match potential partners. In all, 570 companies (30 percent more than 2001) made over 6,000 meeting requests, and 2,504 meetings were conducted.

• Held a standing-room-only Global Biotechnology Forum featuring policy leaders from around the world and BIO's first one-day international matchmaking forum.

	BIO Convention Attendance Soars
		Year	City	Total Registration	Press
		BIO '93	Research Triangle Park	1,400	n/a
		BIO '94	Toronto	2,125	n/a
		BIO '95	San Francisco	2,675	n/a
		BIO '96	Philadelphia	3,071	70
		BIO '97	Houston	3,193	61
		BIO '98	New York	4,715	246
		BIO '99	Seattle	5,730	144
		BIO 2000	Boston	10,292	452
		BIO 2001	San Diego	13,740	631
		BIO 2002	Toronto	15,673	400

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