BioNJ CEO Debbie Hart still remembers a lunch she had with Anthony Marucci nearly two decades ago.
Marucci, the CEO of Hampton-based Celldex Therapeutics, was describing a unique challenge in the state. New Jersey was filled with a number of global bio companies and hundreds of research startups that aimed to be just like them — or become a part of them — but the two rarely got a chance to get together.
Soon after, the first BioPartnering Conference — one that promised not only panel discussions, but one-on-one conversations between big and small companies, founders and investors — was born.
Next week, the event will celebrate its 15th year, when the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City hosts the all-day conference May 13.
Hart is thrilled — and stunned — by the growth of the BioPartnering Conference, which has dozens of sponsors, including JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Lewis and CoreWeave.
“It’s bigger and better than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “Last year, we had nearly 600 attendees from 22 states and nine countries.”
This year’s event will feature startup pitch presentations from approximately 100 companies and include more than two dozen academic and research institutions.
The scope of the event is growing, too.
Realizing that not all small companies could give a pitch presentation, the event now features an opportunity for founders to have quick conversations with some of the state’s biggest companies throughout the day at the Industry Connections Desk.
Eight companies — Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Quest Diagnostics, Sanofi and Teva Pharmaceuticals — will have representatives on site.
“The Industry Connections Desk gives founders of all sizes a chance to have a quick conversation with some of the most important companies in the world,” Hart said. “We’ve seen in the past how short conversations on one day can lead to larger conversations down the road.
“That’s what this event is about, bringing companies together.”
And, while the event attracts a global crowd — companies from the United Kingdom, Israel, India and China are among those already scheduled to appear — the event will have a virtual component all week.
“We saw during COVID, when we had to go virtual, that it was a way to bring even more companies together around the world,” she said. “That’s why we turned a one-day event into a one-week event.”
The event will offer more than just networking. Two panels also will take place:
Preparing for Exit in a Volatile Market: Moderated by David Schwartz of Morgan Lewis, it will discuss current market volatility with panelists from Cantor Fitzgerald, RSM US, Tevogen Bio and J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
Leveraging AI to Accelerate Life Science and MedTech Innovation: Moderated by Cindy Casebolt of Thermo Fisher Scientific, it will feature panelists from Insmed, SpotitEarly and CoreWeave.
There also will be an industry overview and update, presented by JPMorgan Chase, and a Venture Capital Fireside Chat to end the day.
Registration is still open. Click here for more information.
