NZBIO conference – Aotea Centre, Auckland
NZBIO conference – Aotea Centre, Auckland, September 15 – 16
Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith announced last week the Government will review the appropriateness of councils being involved in regulating Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), prompted by advice over a liver cancer treatment trial involving a GMO in Auckland. The new Auckland Unitary Plan prohibits the release of any GMO and would not allow any such future medical treatments.
GM is going to be one of the hot topics at the conference.
Two remarkable international guest speakers will provide a global perspective to the NZ debate. Jack and Sweta will be available (at times where the programme allows) for interviews.
Jack Bobo serves as the Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for Intrexon, a synthetic biology company developing revolutionary solutions to the world's most pressing problems--in food, energy and health. In June 2015, he was named by Scientific American one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology today.
Sweta Chakraborty is currently the Associate Director of the Institute of Science for Global Policy (ISGP) in New York. Dr Chakraborty is also a program associate on pharmaceutical regulation and product liability at Oxford University’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS). Her primary area of expertise is on science and technology policy options for global issues (e.g., infectious disease, food security, climate change). Her research expertise areas include risk perception, risk and crisis communications, corporate reputational management, risk regulation, and public trust.
Jack and Sweta fit into a conference with the theme “Beyond the Horizon”. Please see the programme here:
http://www.nzbio.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NZBIO-Program-V10.pdf
The two-day conference will feature a balance of technical and business sessions dedicated to key focal areas in the NZ bioeconomy including: human health, animal health, agriculture, nano-biotechnology, IP, investment and capability building.
The conference will also provide a forum for showcasing key infrastructural elements and building blocks of the biotech industry, including initiatives from Callaghan Innovation, innovations and developments in capital raising, a focus on key markets and tech transfer/ commercialisation initiatives
The annual
industry excellence awards will be announced at a dinner at
the Maritime Museum on the evening of September
15.
ends