French to promote healthcare clusters

The Economic Department of the French Embassy in Mumbai, Bangalore along with UBIFrance plans to showcase five healthcare clusters from diverse regions in France at the BangaloreBio-2008, scheduled to be held from April 24 to April 26.

UBIFrance is the French agency for international business development and is a key player in the French public programme for export promotion.

According to Bruno Rouot, attaché for science and technology, French Embassy in Bangalore, this is being done to identify research partners and to get a better understanding of the biotech sector in India.

"At the BangaloreBio2008, regions like Medicen Santé (Paris), Lyon Bio Pôle (Rhône Alpes), Innovation Thérapeutiques (Alsace), Biothérapies (Pays de la Loire) and Orphême (Languedoc Rousillon, Provence - Alpes-Côte d'Azur) will be looking for partnerships. These clusters will also be accompanied by lifescience firms from their respective regions," he added.

At the bioevent, a seminar on 'Fast Track R&D Partnering France' will be held on April 24 by the clusters to present their ongoing research on 'Colon & Breast Cancer Bio Markers', 'Technology Boosting Immunity', 'Molecular & Cellular Biotyping' and 'Transluminal Surgery'.

In addition to the clusters, the French Pavilion at the exhibition will see 15 companies under one roof to promote their technologies, products and services, and also find partners among Indian companies in the bio-pharmaceutical sector.

Some of the prominent firms are Pierre Fabre, a specialist in dermo-cosmetics and oncology, active in India since 2002, Lesaffre International Group, a global player in yeast extract products for food and biopharmaceutical industry, Voisin Consulting, a company with expertise in design and implementation of innovative regulatory strategies and Vivalis, with innovative technologies in vaccines looking to identify partners for technology transfers.

Other participating companies include independent firms like Clean Cells, Clestra Cleanroom, CIT, Eurofins-ADME Bioanalyses, Imaxio, Incell Art, SACI-CFPA and Solabia as well as Regional Development Organisations like Paris Development (Paris), Aderly (Lyon) and Alsace Biovalley (Alsace region).