Bio 2002 exodus begins

An exodus of Australian bioscience professionals heading for Toronto and the start of the Bio 2002 conference and exhibition has begun.

Among the first to depart have been government officials, but the pace and scope of the migration will pick up pace sharply in the next few days as private sector bioindustry executives join in.

Indications are that the conference has attracted record numbers of bioindustry participants.

On Austrade figures, Bio 2002 will see a 27 per cent jump in the number of Australian exhibitors compared with last year's event. Of the 66 Australian exhibitors, roughly half are private sector companies while the other half are composed of universities, research institutes and government bodies.

Victoria dominates the exhibitor count with 17, followed by a neck-and-neck NSW (10) and Queensland (9). South Australia is surprisingly strong (7), leading the ACT (6) and Western Australia (5).

The delegate count as listed with Austrade is far higher but the final tally is open to guesswork since many delegates - unlike exhibitors - will choose to register as they arrive at the conference which opens June 9.

However, 295 Australian delegates were officially registered as of May 29, and if their numbers follow the same trend as exhibitor figures, the delegate count this year appears destined to sail past 400 compared with 346 last year.

Queensland alone will send a 94-member group, led by Premier Peter Beattie who is putting in a repeat performance following his attendance at Bio 2001 in San Diego.

If the composition of Queensland's contingent is reflected in the delegations arriving from other states, Australian conference attendees will fall into four main groups.

Each of approximately equal size, the groups include: research institutes/universities, private sector biotechs, finance/legal professionals and government.