The three day Bangalore Bio 2006' opened on a note of several potential partnerships to be signed in the future. And, overall the expo facilitated 500 one-to-one business meetings for potential collaborations, partnerships & alliances. There were 72 speakers, 600 conference delegates, 150 exhibitors, from over 20 countries including France, Germany, Holland and UK.

A research grant to the tune of Euros 55 billion ( $70 billion) for the Seventh EU Research Framework Programme for 2007-2013 came in from the European Union Science and Technology wing.

Among country meets with Indian companies, France represented by 19 firms and 50 delegates in the areas of equipment and services managed to hold over 200 one-to-one meetings which could result in partnerships. The possible tie-ups include distribution of reagents, distribution of equipment for Bio-Pharma like clean room, R&D partnerships by outsourcing, said Eric Farcette, representative French Trade Commission.

For the United Kingdom, two major collaborations came through during the event where Genetix, a leading robotics manufacturer, appointed Labmate (Asia) Pvt Ltd as their marketing partner for micro arrays and UK-based M-Scan, a global provider of analytical services partnered Bioinnovat Research Services Pvt. Ltd, a Drug Development Research Services Consultancy. The 17 member UK team comprised several life science companies apart from regional development agencies of Scotland, Wales, the Midlands, London & the North East, stated Gita Krishnankutty, Senior Inward Investment Adviser, British Trade Office.

The German delegation organized more than 80 meetings which could possibly result in alliances that would enable the Indian firms to distribute products across Europe, since Germany is the logistics centre for Europe, informed Anandi Iyer - Advisor International Technology Cooperation Network.

From the Netherlands over 12 companies participated and around 100 interactions were organized which could see alliances come through, pointed out Vijay Kumar, from the Embassy of Netherlands.

Indian Avesthagen, Biocon, Sami Labs, Biozeen were able to provided their present potential and future perspective. States like Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh were also able to portray their capabilities.

The Poster competition saw 35 papers presentations by young scientists and innovators.

Award Winners of Bangalore Bio 2006:

State of India Pavilion: 1) Government of Andhra Pradesh; 2) Government of Chattisgarh.

Research Institutes: 1) ICAR; 2) CSIR; 3) Department of Atomic Energy

Small Pavilion: 1) Bio Spectrum; 2) Varda Biotech; 3) Yes Bank

Medium Pavilion: 1) Pal Life Sciences; 2) Strand Life Sciences; 3) Metahelix Life Sciences

Pavilion: 1) Biozeen; 2) Alfa Laval; 3). Sartorrius

International Pavilion: 1) France; 2) U.K.

Poster Session: 1) Sonu Bhaskar; 2) Rucha Vinay Joshi; 3) Sana Ansari/Satya Laxmi