Bio-tech Baltics bridge connections and bring first-ever Nobel Prize winner a step closer

  • 2012-09-19
  • By Linas Jegelevicius

EMERGING MARKET: Conference participants agreed that the Baltics are building a strong foundation in the life sciences.

VILNIUS - Life Sciences Baltics 2012, held in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Sept. 12-14. According to the event’s organizers, it has become, in the last years, the biggest international life sciences forum in the Eastern and Central part of the EU, attracting nearly 700 participants and leading bio-tech science experts from all over the world. Significantly, over one hundred sector scholars and entrepreneurs arrived from Israel, who have been known for their achievements in the field.

The delegates included representatives of the leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, venture capital funds, biomedicine scientists, experts, consultants, investors, corporate executives, Nobel Prize winner and professor Ada Yonath, start-up company heads and the Baltic States’ expatriates.

The large get-together aimed to shed light on the significant achievements and great potential of the Baltic States in the area of life sciences, as well as promote the opportunities for scientific and business cooperation development.
In his recorded congratulatory speech, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius emphasized that the impressive number of participants made the launch of the first Life Sciences Baltics forum “a remarkable one.”

“Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are on the fast track of becoming Northern Europe’s Life Sciences Hub. The three Baltic States have an outstanding growth potential in the life sciences sector and offer exciting investment and cooperation opportunities for global leaders in the field. The talent pool, strategic investments into modern infrastructure and a favorable environment for R&D and investments were proven by a great number of success stories and the famous names of multinationals, highlighting the vitality of the industry in the region,” Kubilius said.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Azubalis, in his address to the conference, underlined the opportunity to demonstrate to the world achievements of life sciences in Lithuania and other Baltic countries and to explore marketing opportunities for intellectual products. “No one could argue that Lithuanian researchers have made an essential breakthrough in the field of life sciences; however, there is a feeling that these achievements have not yet reached the full scope of recognition worldwide. We are here today to demonstrate to the world that we have grown to the level of competence where we are ready to share our innovative experience in life sciences, and more than willing to explore marketing opportunities for our intellectual products,” Azubalis stressed.

He added:  “Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia view Life Sciences Baltics 2012 as a platform for our forward-looking science and start-up businesses to present their experience and new high quality products to the wider global audience.”
The minister also noted that a high level of participation at this event demonstrated the universality and importance of life sciences, as well as interest in scientific progress and impact on the quality of life today and in the future.

Another Lithuanian minister in attendance, Rimantas Zylius, minister of the economy, stressed that the development of life sciences and creation of high technologies ensures rapid progress of the modern world. “Countries that base their industry on high technology are more developed, modern and attract more investments. Today’s event is a perfect illustration of the advance Lithuania has made in the field,” said Zylius.

Having called the Baltics “a leading region” in developing life sciences, he re-affirmed, in speaking to The Baltic Times: “Lithuania was the only Soviet Union country which had the United Applied Enzymology Scientific Research Institute, functioning since 1975. After restoration of independence, this experience was not wasted, but developed further. This has lead to a thriving of the life sciences sector, which has become an integral part of our economy, industry and business, and where we have very strong foundations. Lithuanian inventions in the field are known globally, and successful companies have become magnets for life sciences specialists.”

Some 1 billion litas (289.8 million euros) have been allocated in various forms to the bio-technology sector and, the minister says, sector opportunity-savvy entrepreneurs have already taken advantage of the funding.
“Let’s just take one outstanding example; Lithuanian bio-tech firm Biofarma, which has taken off successfully, employing state money,” Zylius pointed out.

He noted that “the things that are being done now in developing life sciences should be sustained and promoted more actively. “However, there is nothing right now that we’d like to change radically,” the minister admitted.
Asked when Lithuania could produce its first ever Nobel Prize winner in life sciences, Zylius  took the question seriously and expressed hope that  it will happen still in this century. “No doubt that Lithuanian science and scientists are capable of that,” the minister said, exuding confidence.

Reija Laitinen, Territory Account Manager for Finland and the Baltic countries for Illumina Netherlands BV, a bio-tech company, in speaking to The Baltic Times said that the Baltic States will be on par with, or better than, Western European countries if they have the same access to the latest scientific data and achievements, a crucial thing in the fierce competition. “Frankly, I do believe there is still room for improvement, though the three countries are generally doing very well as part of the European Union,” Laitinen said.

She added that Illumina Netherlands BV came to the forum in a bid to make more business contacts and get first-hand information on developments in the sector.
Dovydas Grukauskas, managing director and member of the board at Biomapas, a contract research organization, said that the government needs to “keep up the direction it has taken” in promoting life sciences in Lithuania. “In general, the bio-tech sector in Lithuania often needs just success to open up more markets, especially making inroads into the United States, as well as attracting more international funds-provided financial assistance. Being a small, still post-Soviet country often works against us but, in the long run, I believe it will turn out to our advantage,” Grukauskas told The Baltic Times.

Biomapas has developed from a two-doctor medical research company a decade ago to a 22-employee company with a number of foreign business partners today. “We’ve started working in Belarus recently and we’ve taken some steps in expanding toward Eastern Europe and are eyeing Poland and Russia, as well as the potential markets in the near future.” No doubt, expansion is the way to succeed,” Grukauskas said.
“First we got large pharmaceutical contract companies’ Lithuania-based smaller affiliates interested in our research, and then, with some radical developments in the market, we struck direct contacts with some major businesses abroad,” the Biomapas director related.

Ingrida Bublys, a representative of the Chicago-based Lithuanian Trade Office, said they managed to bring 8 U.S. companies to Life Sciences Baltics 2012, the Ohio-based Akron Bio-Medical company among them. “This is really a historical event,” Bublys noted. “The U.S. has never been really interested until now in this region, and no bio-tech production has been sold by the Baltic States in the U.S. I’m sure this is about to change as we’ve already got several companies’ representatives talking to Ohio-based BioMedical Corridor, a bio-tech company,” Bublys told The Baltic Times.

Next year a big bio-tech exhibition will take place in Chicago, and its participants will include several Lithuanian bio-tech start-ups. “We’ve been bridging the connections, and I am proud we’ve been instrumental in organizing a student conference within the framework of the event,” Bublys said.

“It all started because of our relationships with the Lithuanian Trade Office in Chicago, Mrs. Bublys personally and the relationships with the Lithuanian Trade Council in Cleveland. I travelled to Lithuania earlier this year and met with a number of your officials in ministries and the government, as well as the Lithuanian ambassador in Israel and business people from Lithuanian start-ups. When the conference was announced we knew that we had to be there,” Robert Y. Bowman, deputy mayor of Akron, told The Baltic Times.

According to Paulius Lukauskas, the CEO of “Enterprise Lithuania,” which was the main organizer of the event, such forums are a great opportunity for Lithuania and the Baltic countries to present themselves and make new, international contacts in the field of life sciences. “The idea of organizing such an event came to us while visiting Israel, which is one of the global centers of life sciences as well as a perfect example for Lithuania, which strives to become the regional leader in the field. Lithuania and Israel have been cooperating and sharing experiences for a while; we hope that this event will strengthen this special bond,” Lukauskas said.

Honorary Consul of Israel in Lithuania, President of High-Tech Sciences and Industry Valley “Santara” Vladas Algirdas Bumelis, who has long been active in cooperation with Israeli scientists and business, maintained that Lithuania has great potential in the life sciences sector. “Life sciences creates high added-value. Therefore, Lithuania should pay special attention to this sector when creating a knowledge economy. The current situation of life sciences allows to predict that in the future we will be able to talk about the creation of a bio-economy, and the products and services created by the experts in the field will comprise more than 1 percent of Lithuanian GDP. It is extremely important to use the potential we have in this field and create the possibilities for young specialists to work in the sphere without leaving Lithuania; therefore, events promoting dialogue between business and science, like this conference, are a welcome initiative,” the professor claimed.

Latvia’s Economy Ministry Secretary, Juris Puce, singled out two leading fields in the biotechnology sector – the pharmacy and medicine industry. “Even during the economic crunch, the high added-value-creating fields have been a cornerstone of the entire economy,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, Tea Danilov, a representative of Estonia’s Ministry of Economy and Communications, pointed to life sciences as “a field with a slow economic return.”
“Estonia is a small country, but if we were to take relative indicators, we are not falling behind France. I reckon that is a very good achievement,” she stressed.

At the three-day conference a number of various events took place, some of the most noteworthy ones were: the opening of thes Life Sciences Baltics Exhibition, organizing the Partnership Event, presentation of the Start-up program, site visits to the leading Lithuanian life sciences companies and R&D centers. As part of the forum, Vilnius University held the international life sciences student conference “The Coins,” with up to 200 participants from Lithuania and abroad.