Seven Catalan companies scout for new partners in Japan on mission organized by Biocat and ACCIÓ

For the second year in a row, Biocat (through bioXclusters+) and ACCIÓ organized a business mission to Japan including the 19^th BioJapan Fair (Yokohama). Cytes Biotechnologies, Creatio, Gebro Pharma, Readycell, Laboratorios Rubió, Thrombotargets Europe and ZeClinics participated in the mission.

The companies participated in BioJapan, the benchmark fair in the sector in Asia, held in Yokohama from 12 to 14 October. New this year, companies from the BioRegion of Catalonia had their own booth in the Spanish pavilion coordinated by ICEX, in addition to holding partnering meetings and making presentations to other participants at the fair. At BioJapan, Biocat headed up the delegation by presenting the assets of the BioRegion of Catalonia at the “Bio Cluster Summit 2017: Digital Biotechnology” and the seminar “Spanish Biotechnology a state-of-the-art approach”. They also visited the Japan Bioindustry Association, Osaka Bio Headquarters and LINK-J, the new cluster in Tokyo created just 18 months ago with the aim of strengthening ties and facilitating the international expansion of companies in the healthcare and life sciences sector.

Cytes and ZeClinics, before travelling to Yokohama, also participated in the European Biotech & Pharma Partnering Conference in Osaka, an event organized by bioXclusters+, the Osaka biotech cluster and the EU-Japan Centre. A total of 54 Japanese companies and 63 European companies held business-to-business meetings (B2B) at the conference.

“The participating Catalan companies have awoken great interest among potential Japanese partners, as can be seen in the packed partnering schedule many of them had”, highlighted Biocat Head of Internationalization Roi Villar.

This mission is part of the delegation to Japan organized by bioXclusters+ for SMEs based in one of the project’s regions. Bioxclusters+ brings together four of the leading clusters in biotechnology and healthcare: Biocat (Catalonia), BioM (Bavaria, Germany), BioPmed/Bioindustry Park Silvano Fumero (Piedmont, Italy) and LyonBiopole (Rhône-Alpes, France) to promote internationalization of SMEs in personalized medicine. Furthermore, Biocat coordinated with ACCIÓ, ICEX, CDTI and ASEBIO to get better conditions for companies and organizations from the BioRegion of Catalonia.

The Japanese pharmaceutical sector is the second largest in the world and the leader in imports in the sector. Five Japanese companies are among the top 30 manufacturers in the world. Japanese companies in the sector are currently going global and need alliances with foreign biotechnology companies/organizations to incorporate new technology and develop new drugs.