Front and centre: The UK comes to the fore at BIO as former prime minister set to give keynote

A large UK delegation is expected in attendance as the former prime minister of the UK, David Cameron, will deliver the keynote speech at the 2017 global BIO Convention, taking place next week in San Diego, California, USA.

This year’s theme is Breakthrough, with the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on biomedicine, digital health and the future of clinical trials high on the agenda. It is reported that over 500 delegates from the UK are heading to the show, which is expected to be the largest overseas delegation at the convention.

“The UK is growing the world’s third bioscience cluster, and BIO is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the strength of the UK bioscience community at an international level grow this important part of Britain’s future economy,” said Steve Bates, UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) chief executive. “The UK is Europe’s hub for life sciences, with a deep talent pool and the most productive science base in the G7. We have more than 5,600 companies to partner with homed in a country with a highly competitive and efficient tax regime.

“At this time of political uncertainty, it’s even more important for our sector to be showcasing our entrepreneurialism and innovation to the globe — and doing deals to deliver UK exports. I’ll also be making much of our country’s continued support for science — both in terms of investment and societal support, especially as US policy seems to be heading in the opposite direction. So, I’m looking forward to hearing David Cameron big up our UK ecosystem to the globe as it rightly should be.”