Tuesday the 23rd of June saw the Sciad team attend the launch event for BioGateway Kent Life Science Network, at Discovery Park in Sandwich. The event was a huge success, with over 220 members of the life science industry attending, far outstripping the expected 140.

Sciad has been helping BioGateway with their PR, distributing press releases via our Sciad Newswire service, and inviting press to attend and cover the event. Running press for an event is always somewhat hectic, since it often involves trying to find an individual who you may have only ever seen in a photo, in a crowd of hundreds of people, within the next 5 minutes. It does, however, keep you on your toes.

We heard numerous speakers, including Simon Westbrook, acting Chairman, BioGateway, and CEO, Levicept, Kim Giliam, General Manager, Genea Biomedx, and Mark Treherne, Chief Executive, UKTI Life Science Organisation.  The primary subject of discussion was the future role of Kent in the life science sector in relation to continental Europe and the so-called ‘golden triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, with a view to expanding the triangle to Kent, or potentially even disrupting the idea of the golden triangle itself. For further reading on the subject I can recommend this excellent feature on pharmafile: http://www.pharmafile.com/news/497384/uk-pharma-s-golden-triangle-faces-competition-new-challengers

BioGateway were also keen to emphasise their relationships with other life science networks, both in the UK and in continental Europe, relationships that they hope can be used to help their members collaborate organisations around Europe they may previously have found difficult to connect with.

There was also a nice surprise for us when, during his speech, Alex Watson, COO of BioGateway, named our own Richard Anderson as one of four people whose support had been critical in ensuring the success of the event. 

All in all, it was a very productive day. We were present for the first steps of what will hopefully become a key player among life science networks, we met some great organisations who also recognise BioGateway’s potential, and we had the opportunity to get out of London for a day.

 

James, Sciad Account Executive

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