On June 7th and 8th, 2012 experts in the field of in vitro-diagnostics and bioanalysis gathered for the 4th time at the Berlin-Brandenburg Technology Forum at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. For the first time foreign companies were invited to meet potential partners from the Capital Region in person. Approximately 170 participants from 11 countries came to participate in the event hosted by the Charité. Out of them, 46% of them had an industrial background and 13% arrived from outside Germany.
Personalized Medicine and Next Generation Sequencing were of particular interest at this year‘s Technology Forum. Dr. med. Hans-Herrmann Dubben opened Session I: Biomarkers and Clinical Research by giving an answer to the question “What does the test really say?” Further highlights were Prof. Dr. Theodor Dingermann’s (Goethe Univ. Frankfurt) introduction into personalized medicine with its potentials and challenges, as well as the speech of Dr. Ivo Gut from the National Genome Analysis Centre in Barcelona about genome sequencing in the context of cancer screening in Session II: Technology Development.
Short international company presentations concluded Session III: Industrial Development - Medical Application. One of the presenting institutions was the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). FIND with its headquarter in Geneva has been supported by the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation in its aim to develop better and easier-accessible diagnostic test for developing countries, introduce them locally and thus address the wide-spread, poverty-related diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria.
The Partnering Event for companies and research institutes took place parallel to the sessions. Organized in cooperation with the Enterprise Europe Network, the 30-minutes-B2B-meetings aimed at bringing together companies from the Berlin-Brandenburg region with potential partners from Europe and the USA. With 65 meetings the response was pleasing.
On the exhibition floor, 20 companies and institutes from 11 countries presented their products, services and technologies in an industrial exhibition.
An extensive side programme organized together with Berlin Partner offered a tailormade opportunity especially for participants from abroad to get to know the Berlin-Brandenburg region’s potential: On the first day of the Technology Forum, the participants had the possibility to visit the Life Science sites Campus Berlin-Buch and the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics. In the evening Technology Forum’s guests were welcomed by the German Heart Institute Berlin. By that occasion Prof. Dr. med. Rudolf Tauber, Scientific Director of the Labor Berlin Charité Vivantes GmbH, introduced the in vitro-diagnostics at the Charité and Vivantes.
A pleasing closing of the 2-day event was the Guided Science Tour followed by a dinner in a typical, old-fashioned Berlin-style- restaurant. Impressions of the event, the programm, as well as a recollection of the lectures are available for download at:
Download Area (selected presentations, flyer)
The 5th Berlin-Brandenburg Technology Forum “In vitro-Diagnostics and Bioanalysis” will be organized in Potsdam at the beginning of June 2013. Already now, you are most welcome and invited to participate!