OPENBIO-2020: results
Live event with online integrations, COVID-19 and venture investments
The industry complex of events in the field of biotechnology, biopharmaceutics and virology OpenBio-2020 has completed its work. The events were held in the Koltsovo science city of the Novosibirsk region from October 27 to October 30. In the realities of the pandemic, it was important for event organizers to reduce the number of offline participants by organizing online broadcasts. 2679 people participated in the work of OpenBio-2020, 473 of them offline, 2206 online. Last year, 940 offline participants were registered at OpenBio sites.
Speaking with a welcoming speech at the opening of the complex of events, the Minister of Science and Innovation Policy of the Novosibirsk region Alexey Vasiliev noted that OpenBio is gaining momentum every year.
"New formats have appeared, which, due to synergy, give an additional effect. This year is special, it has made adjustments to all our activities and increased the importance and significance of what is happening within the framework of expert communication. The ideas and solutions that the scientific community and representatives of innovative business have are materialized into specific technological products and services. They will help us find answers to the global challenges we have faced this year," the minister explained.
At the OpenBio scientific conference, young scientists presented 71 reports in the sections "Virology", "Biophysics", "Biotechnology" and "Molecular Biology". 30 scientists who could not come due to the unfavorable epidemiological situation worked in the videoconference mode. Compared to last year, the geography of participants in Russia has significantly expanded: in 2019, speakers from 21 regions spoke at OpenBio, in 2020 – from 34 regions.
The winners and prize-winners in the scientific conference were:
1st place – Maria Borgoyakova, FBUN of the World Bank "Vector"
2nd place – Anastasia Bartosh, Federal Research Center "Fundamentals of Biotechnology" of the Russian Academy of Sciences
3rd place – Evgenia Bashmakova, Institute of Biophysics SB RAS
Section "Virology"
1st place – Anastasia Gladysheva, FBUN SSC VB "Vector
2nd place – Gadir Zhdid, Novosibirsk State University
3rd place – Ksenia Kovaleva, Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry named after N.N. Vorozhtsov SB RAS
Section "Biophysics"
1st place – Viktor Golyshev, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS
2nd place – Ivan Gushchin, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
3rd place – Ivan Baykov, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine SB RAS
Section "Molecular Biology"
1st place – Anna Yurina, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology SB RAS
2nd place – Mikhail Dubovichenko, St. Petersburg University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics
3rd place – Elizaveta Tananykina, Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The winners received electric scooters, the winners – graphic tablets and smart speakers.
The OpenBio-2020 Business Forum was held on October 30. This year, the XIV Siberian Venture Fair was successfully held within the framework of the forum, more than 20 projects in the field of biotechnologies, biopharmaceuticals, agrobiotechnologies were presented at it.
The main venues of the business forum: expert session "Life Technologies"; round table "Countering global viral threats"; round table "Megascience Research Infrastructure: Synchrotron for Life Sciences"; expert discussion "Career in Innovation: where to start"; round table "Pharmaceutical treatment. A new era of the pharmaceutical industry"; conference "How the corporate innovation market is changing", a master class "Deal with intelligence" and expert discussions on venture investment in biotech and pharma.
The round table "Countering Global Viral Threats" was the culmination of the entire business forum and took place at the height of the seasonal exacerbation of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection. The discussion was attended by the world's leading expert in the field of public health, epidemiology and laboratory diagnostics, President of DiaPrep System Inc. (USA) Mikhail Favorov. He worked on a round table on a direct line from Atlanta, Georgia.
Moderator of the discussion Sergey Netesov, Head of the Laboratory of Bionanotechnology at NSU, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that the round table managed to gather "leading experts in the field of study, prevention, diagnosis, treatment of coronavirus infection."
"Dmitry Poteryaev, a speaker from Generium, presented the Elispot technology platform for evaluating coronavirus vaccines even before large-scale clinical trials of the third phase. This development will allow comparing all three Russian vaccines by the end of this year. Mikhail Losev from the Medico-Biological Union Group of companies made a presentation on the technology of an express test to detect coronavirus infection among visitors to airports and other crowded places. The peculiarity of this development is that the rapid test can be repurposed in 2-3 months for any infection," Netesov noted.
The expert session "Technologies of Life" became the longest at the business forum, it lasted more than 8 hours. The level of experts of the site was impressive: Professor of Harvard School of Medicine Vadim Gladyshev, Head of the Department of Immunology of the Higher Medical School Andrey Prodeus, President of the Russian Society of Somnologists Roman Buzunov and others. All the speakers and one of the moderators of the session, Yulia Smirnova, presenter of the program "Youth and Longevity" on Mediametrics, worked online. The only offline expert in the conference room was Artem Elmuratov, Director of Development of the Genotek Medical and Genetic Center. He moderated the site together with Smirnova.
"The performances of the participants gave a very balanced approach. At the same time, we talked about complex biological aspects, delved into theory and fundamentals, and gave practical advice on how to live long and actively. I am glad that a mix of topics turned out on our site: gerontology, mechanisms of aging at the molecular level, somnology, stem cells," Elmuratov said.
Ilya Ivakhin, moderator of the conference "How the Corporate Innovation Market is Changing", head of digital transformation projects at the Osnova Group of Companies, spoke about the importance of human resources.
"The problem of finding new interesting startups to meet the needs of corporations can be solved both by researching the student development market and by studying innovations within companies. In any case, people will come first. If we cannot gather enough specialists with an open new approach, then we have nothing to catch," Ivakhin said.
Three documents on international cooperation were signed on the day of the forum. The mayor of the Koltsovo science city Nikolay Krasnikov and the chairman of the Goretsky district Executive Committee Alexander Butarev signed an action plan for the implementation of the agreement on the establishment of twinning relations between the Koltsovo science city and the city of Gorki, Mogilev region of the Republic of Belarus. Andrey Linyushin, Director of the Koltsovo Innovation Center, signed two documents: a protocol on cooperation between the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and Chief Scientific Secretary Andrey Ivanets and an agreement on cooperation with the Center of Industry at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in the Russian Federation with the director of the Center, Beads Stamboliev.
Every year, OpenBio gathers international guests at its venues. Even during the pandemic, when many borders are closed, some participants found a way to join the event. Alexey Guskov, Head of the Department of Structural Biology at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), flew to OpenBio 2020 for several reasons. The scientist gave an introductory lecture for biophysicists and spoke at the round table "Megascience Research Infrastructure: Synchrotron for Life Sciences".
"Synchrotron radiation can be used for many purposes. Basically, this is physics, but for biology it will be a good impulse in the development of structural biology, because at the moment not so many laboratories are dealing with problems, and the synchrotron in Moscow is very old, and the construction of the newest synchrotron will be beneficial to everyone," Guskov said.
A scientific and trade mission from the Japanese city of Sapporo was planned to arrive at OpenBio 2020. Due to the closed borders, the delegation from Sapporo was unable to participate in the OpenBio events offline, but was happy to watch the discussions at the business forum online. The Japanese side identified biopharmaceuticals, biotechnologies and agriculture as priority areas of cooperation.
In total, representatives of 10 countries took part in OpenBio 2020: Belarus, Bulgaria, Spain, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Poland, the USA, Switzerland, Japan. Last year, the sites of the industry complex of events gathered participants from 8 countries.
Summing up the results of OpenBio-2020, the head of the industry complex of events Yulia Linyushina noted that this year's format was unique.
"We were able to hold a live event with online integrations and broadcasts of all sites, thereby enhancing the atmosphere of OpenBio. Despite the difficult situation, our platform has shown growth, which confirms the relevance of the agenda by industry players and the relevance of the proposed formats. It is also important that we have brought a scientific conference to a new level, the best works of which will be published in well–known journals with indexing in the international database Scopus," explained Linyushina.
OpenBio-2020 was organized by ANO "Koltsovo Innovation Center" with the support of the Government of the Novosibirsk Region and the Administration of the Koltsovo Science City.
Co-organizers: SSC World Bank "Vector", Biotechnopark Koltsovo, Association "Biopharm", Novosibirsk State University
Organizational partners: HealthNet Infrastructure Center, Novosibirsk Region Investment Development Agency, Novosibirsk Region Regional Development Center, Novosibirsk Regional Innovation Fund, Youth and Longevity with Yulia Smirnova Program, Russian Venture Investment Association
General Information Partner: TASS
Strategic Information Partner: GMP News
General Sponsor: Apteka.ru
Official sponsors: Biolabmix, Sistema-Biotech, EFCO, PMI Science Philip Morris International
Sponsors of the scientific conference: Helicon, Rheolgreidservice, Technoinfo
Contacts of the OpenBio press center:
info@openbio.ru
+7 913 798 1440
Svetlana Albaut
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru