Delegation from European Commission and nine clusters holds interviews with top biotechnology hubs in Brazil
Biocat and three partners from Bavaria, Piedmont and Rhône-Alpes from the bioXclusters project have signed an agreement with the organization that promotes the Rio de Janeiro biocluster.
By Biocat
Biocat traveled to Brazil with a delegation from the European Commission and eight leading European clusters in the life sciences from 10 to 12 September in order to foster exchanges with institutions and companies from this country. The representatives of the European Commission that led the mission were Marco Malacarne, head of Clusters and SMEs for the Directorate-General for Enterprise, Ferenc Marofka of the Directorate-General for Research, and Director General of the Sophia Antipolis Foundation Jean-Noël Durvy.
Two of the clusters that accompanied the European Commission on this mission have been working together since 2012 on the bioXclusters project to promote the competitiveness of biotechnology SMEs in three strategic markets: Brazil, the United States and China. bioXclusters is a collaboration project among Biocat from Catalonia, BioM (Bavaria), bioPmed (Piedmont) and Lyonbiopole (Rhône-Alpes). Prior experience led the Commission to “want us as advisors on this mission given the knowledge and contacts we have made in Brazil,” explained Biocat Head of Internationalization Mamen Martí. The bioXclusters partners organized another mission in September 2012.
The mission focused around BioPartnering Latin America, the most important event for this sector in South America, which facilitated meetings of the European Commission with the Brazilian Ministry for Development, Industry and Trade (MDIC), among clusters and among companies (B2B). The Brazilian clusters open to future collaborations with European research centers and companies are Ribeirão Preto (State of São Paulo) through the Fundação Instituto Polo Avançado da Saúde de Ribeirão Preto (FIPASE) with which bioXclusters signed a memorandum of understanding, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. In fact, the Brazilian biotechnology market, which is still little developed, is concentrated mainly in these three states in the southeast.
Collaboration agreement between bioXclusters and Bio-Rio
The European delegation also visited Bio-Rio, the biotechnology hub in Rio de Janeiro, the Axis Biotec business group and Ambio, all located in the park. The four bioXclusters partners signed a two-year agreement with Bio-Rio, following the FIPASE model, to establish lines of action to facilitate contact and cooperation among companies. This is, thus, an opportunity for the Catalan biotechnology and biomedical sector.
The growing middle class in Brazil, which went from 34% of the population in 2005 to 53% in 2010, is a great opportunity for European companies, given increased demand for value-added services, as well as the biomedical arena. 31% of companies work in the field of human health. In red biotechnology their strengths lie in producing vaccines, diagnostics and biomedical services. The country’s legal framework is also favorable for clinical trials.
Catalan biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies interested in this market should contact Biocat, as plans for new actions to promote collaboration are underway.
Related information:
- Report on the life sciences sector in Brazil
- Article: The attractive Brazilian biomedical and biotechnological market (E. Soares, May 2012)
- Article: Biocat trade mission to learn about the biotech sector in Brazil (13 June 2012)
- Article: Brazil, the complexities of a market full of opportunities (27 April 2012)
- Article: Workshop Fostering internationalization (I): Brazil (10 April 2012)
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Questions:
Biocat
Business Development Department
Mamen Martí (Head of Internationalization)
cmarti@biocat.cat
Tel. +34 93 310 33 89