BIO Deutschland takes part in the BIONNALE
On 16 May, BIO Deutschland hosted a booth for the first time at the Bionnale, which is organized by HealthCapital, the Berlin-Brandenburg healthcare industries cluster. The Bionnale is the biggest life sciences networking event in Germany’s capital region. As one of the 24 exhibitors, BIO Deutschland provided information about the biotech industry as well as the association’s recent policy activities. The booth was also used to promote the German Biotechnology Days, which will be held on 16 and 17 April 2024 in Berlin – the Bionnale will not take place next year.
The Bionnale’s varied programme featured the panel discussion “Push or Pull? What is the best way to transfer and translate?” in which views were exchanged on the weaknesses of the German translational system and on how collaboration between academia and industry could be improved to accelerate the therapeutics development value chain. Panellists included Maria Afaiate, head of SVP Commercialization and Portfolio Strategy at Bayer; Christopher Baum, Chief Translational Research Officer at Charité and Chair of the BIH Board of Directors; Maike Sander, Scientific Director and Chair of the Board at the Max Delbrück Center; and Christina Quensel, Managing Director of the BiotechPark Berlin-Buch. Claudia Englbrecht of BIO Deutschland moderated the panel. Among the key points discussed were ways to build trust and collaboration between research and industry, such as through establishing mentoring programmes and professionalising technology transfer structures. The push of research, according to the panel’s experts, is just as important as the pull of industry and market needs.