West Palm Beach, Fla. (May 18, 2009) — More than 400 biotechnology professionals, University faculty and students, entrepreneurs, state and local politicians, and vendors gathered at the RTI Biologics campus at Progress Corporate Park May 12 for the annual Celebration of Biotechnology, coordinated by the Northeast Chapter of BioFlorida, Florida’s statewide trade association for the bioscience industry.

Gib Coerper, Vice Mayor, City of Alachua welcomed the group and congratulated Progress Corporate Park on maintaining a strong biotech presence. “The City of Alachua and Progress Corporate Park have the same vision: to build strong and sustainable biotech companies,” said Coerper.

Biotech in Florida remains strong and according to keynote speaker, Lisa Skeete Tatum, General Partner of Cardinal Partners of Princeton, N.J., there is still a lot of money out there for ‘good companies.’ Cardinal Partners is an early stage healthcare venture capital firm and ‘big believers in investing in Florida.’

“Although the pace has slowed significantly, first-time financings are still happening. IT and life science companies will continue to receive the bulk of the money over the next few years. Within the healthcare industry, biotech and medical device companies will receive the lion share of those dollars,” Tatum said.

The two and a half hour event had a constant flow of traffic with a record number of vendors showcasing their technologies and services. Top sponsor, Thermo Fisher Scientific was instrumental in commanding strong vendor support, bringing in nearly half of the 73 vendors. Additional event sponsors included City of Alachua, Biotech Vendor Services, The Pittsburgh Conference (Pittcon 2010), Gainesville Area Council for Economic Outreach and Florida High Tech Corridor Council.

“It’s events like these that put a spotlight on the biotechnology advancements in this region. There are some great success stories here,” said Russell Allen, President and CEO, BioFlorida. “We hope that this event and others like this grab the attention of state legislators who make decisions that affect the business climate for growth of our industry.”

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