BioHealth Capital Region: Advancing Science. Accelerating Innovation.
That was the brand unveiled at this year's by invitation only BioHealth Capital Region Forum hosted by BioHealth Innovation, Tech Council of Maryland, GlycoMimetics, Virginia Bio and MedImmune. The regional partnership aims to create a new identity and brand for the Capital Region's biotech ecosystem and capitalize on the synergies and unique opportunities available.
Last year's inaugural event brought 500 participants and this year's event had 900 people registered for the forum held at MedImmune's corporate headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
"I want to thank MedImmune for bringing together incubators, education, venture capital, government and the BioHealth industry to discuss how this region can become a top 3 by 2023 in life sciences," said, Helen Propheter, Director of the Frederick County County Office of Economic Development (OED). OED was selected to be a part of this collaboration and was able to examine efforts to boost the life sciences industry and discuss effective models for driving innovation locally during the two-day event.
The Governors of both Maryland Virginia gave keynote speeches and panels included presidents of universities from DC, Maryland and Virginia as well as over 100 other experts on various topics. "There is no other place in the world with more expertise in vaccine development than Maryland," said Dr. Steven J. Projan, Sr VP iMED, Head/Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, MedIummune during the Advacements in Vaccine Development discussion.
With over 800 life sciences companies and over 70 federal labs and academic and research institutions, the Capitol Region Biotech cluster currently ranks #7 nationally but ranks #1 in talent. The goal is to be in the top 3 by 2023 and to spotlight a world class technology community that has accounted for 1/3 of job growth in Maryland.
The biotech community has been a significant economic driver in Frederick County for the past decade. Home to Fort Detrick, the National Interagency Biodefense Campus and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and private industry such as AstraZeneca/MedImmune, Lonza, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Frederick County is home to over 80 life sciences companies and one of the top 3 largest bioscience clusters in Maryland. Frederick's location within the research triangle of National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the National Cancer Institute in Frederick (NCI) gives companies direct access to world class research, federal government agencies and national and international associations.
