Mumbai: Mr James C Greenwood is the president and CEO, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), US. BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in more than 30 nations, and is responsible for producing the annual BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry.

Since his appointment in January of 2005, he is said to have enhanced the trade association's capacity, by increasing both its staff and budget by nearly 50 percent. The India chapter of the annual BIO International Convention is scheduled to be held in Mumbai from September 12-13, 2012. In an exclusive email interview with BioSpectrum, Mr Greenwood talks about what's in store for Indian companies at this year's BIO and how he views India' biotech industry.

What are the major objectives of BIO India 2012?
As a non-profit trade association that represents the biotech industry, BIO is pleased to bring the BIO International Conference back to India in an effort to further create and drive business development and collaborations between the US and Indian industry in all areas relating to biotechnology. To help facilitate this collaboration BIO looks at a variety of factors including R&D potential, protections for biotechnology innovations and regulatory mechanisms.

In terms of R&D potential, BIO along with the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), have co-hosted the BIO India International Partnering Conference. The conference, which will be held in Mumbai this year on September 12-13, brings together global business and thought leaders in the various areas of biotechnology for partnering.

A large part of the Indian biotech industry comprises of small and medium sized emerging enterprises. What can they look forward to, from an event such as BIO ?
BIO India brings together biotech and pharmaceutical leaders from the US, Europe and Asia to explore potential partnerships and collaborations with India's life science companies. Event attendees will have the opportunity to connect with potential partners of their choice, through BIO's One-on-One Partnering system. This will enable them to have 30-minute meetings in private rooms provided onsite at the conference.