The members of Hellenic Biocluster (HBio) had the opportunity to meet in person after a long time and discuss the achievements of the Greek Biotechnology ecosystem in 2021, as well as their goals for the following year, at the first event of the cluster for 2022.
The HBio team, ignoring the objective difficulties that existed, worked hard and in close cooperation with the members of the cluster last year in order to support and enhance innovation in Health and Life Sciences and to ensure that the cluster will continue to grow and connect its members successfully.
With the support of the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation, HBio traveled to Greece in order to meet a critical mass of companies and institutions and to understand in depth both their needs and their potential, while in the autumn it organized the 2nd HBio forum where they analyzed in depth the complex and constantly evolving biotechnology ecosystem of our country, as well as the vision of national and international actors for a healthy and sustainable Europe.
2021 was a landmark year for the biotechnology sector in Greece, as for the first time a Greek delegation had the opportunity through HBio to attend with a booth one of the most important events in Europe, the Swiss Biotech Day in Basel, Switzerland, and interact with the Swiss and European biotechnology ecosystem.
The expansion into new markets is of the utmost importance for the biotechnology companies of the country and that is why two relevant actions are planned for 2022. HBIO will be at Swiss Biotech Day again this year in May with an even larger delegation and will then carry out a business and scientific mission for its members in collaboration with major partners from Switzerland such as Biopôle, CSEM and Campus Biotech.
Those who attended the event had the pleasure to meet Mr. Marc Bruchez, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Switzerland in Greece, to talk to him about their companies and products and to discuss about the two ecosystems and how their interaction with each other can lead to new opportunities and growth prospects.
In addition to these extroversion actions, HBio announced the design of a Life Sciences Innovation Accelerator Lab that will offer new development skills to its members and will frame the already rich cycle of seminars it offers with subjects that are not currently covered by any institution in Greece.
Finally, Mrs. Krita, one of the managers of the cluster, was in Iasi a few days ago with her counterparts from Romania, Belgium and Spain for the kick-off meeting of MEDIC-NEST, a major European program in which our country participates through HBio and which facilitates strategic collaborations between clusters in Precision Medicine, a programme which should make it possible to expand the actions and partnerships of the cluster.
The Ministry of Development and Investments was represented by Mr. Dritsas, Head of the office of Dr. Dimas, Deputy Minister of Research and Technology, making a brief reference to the work of the Government aimed at supporting the transformation of remarkable research into innovative products and services for the benefit of society and the economy.
Indicatively, Mr. Dritsas referred to the law on spin-off companies, the law on Angel Investors, the law on over-deductible R&D costs (200%) and the support of Innovation Clusters.