Borderless Biotech on both sides of the river Oder

Borderless Biotech on both sides of the river OderDecember 1st 2008, a new project for the development of a biotechnology based economy area at the German-Polish border is started. In cooperation with the West-Pomeranian Center of Advanced Technologies Szczecin (ZCZT) BioCon Valley is going to establish a German-Polish contact point for Life Sciences at the Baltic Sea Region. It is the goal of the project to initiate international cooperations in science and business and establish a long lasting crossborder life science network. The project is part of the national strategy “Research in Germany – Land of Ideas”.

The first part of the project will take 12 months and focuses on the regions around the university cities Greifswald and Szczecin. In this period the research institutes and enterprises of the Life-Science sector of both regions were contacted to survey their expertises, their specific needs and their interests in cooperation. Using “Life Science Partnering” as a keyword, the contact office will initiate cooperation, make corresponding contacts and attend the process of cooperation continuously.

International workshops in both countries and a final international conference, planned to take place at the end of the year 2009 in Szczecin, will be realized. These are dedicated to technological transfer of the corresponding key competences in science and industry and to the various funding instruments offered by the European Union. In parallel an internet platform “Polish-German Life Science Network” is scheduled, which will comprise all actors of the sector with their profile and their specific needs. Thus it will serve as a helpful instrument for the initiation of cooperation and shall promote the Baltic Sea as an attractive bio-region itself – as a module of the ScanBalt initiative.

The project is an official part of the national campaign “Research in Germany – Land of Ideas” and is supported by the “Internationales Büro” of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Contact:
BioCon Valley GmbH
Dr. Heinrich Cuypers
Walther-Rathenau-Straße 49 a
17489 Greifswald
T +49 3834-515 108
F +49 3834-515 102
More Information:
http://www.bcv.org
http://www.zczt.ps.pl
http://www.research-in-germany.de