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The largest life sciences conference in Palmetto State history will convene Feb. 21-23 in Charleston to address how South Carolina and America will improve health care and health equity.
Themed “Tomorrow Starts Here,” the two-day SCBIO 2023 event will feature national speaker sessions such as Winning the War on Cancer, Made in SC: Innovation at Home, Transforming Health Care Digitally, and Reshoring/Onshoring, among over 20 sessions — all topics driving the state’s most rapidly growing industry: life sciences, according to a news release from SCBIO.
Life sciences is a $25.7 billion annual industry growing faster in South Carolina than in any other Southeastern state. Conference speakers include national pharma and medtech executives, economic developers, leaders from South Carolina’s research universities, health care executives, business and financial industry officials, national media and others. In all, more than 40 speakers will present on a variety of topics.
Recent additions to the growing list of speakers include Shlomi Uziel of Israel’s Quai.MD; Thomas Freund of Switzerland’s SHL Medical; Gary Thompson of Abbott; David Koerner of US Performance Center; Matt Szuhaj of Deloitte/San Francisco; Kendalle O’Connell of MassBio; and Ibraheem Badejo of Ethicon/Johnson and Johnson.
The conference will feature an expanded exhibit hall showcasing scores of life sciences industry businesses, institutions of higher learning and essential support industry partners from across America, as well as presentation of the prestigious Pinnacle Awards by South Carolina Life Sciences to the outstanding 2022 Organization of the Year and Individual of the Year, according to the news release. Also to be honored will be the industry Rising Star under 40 years of age.
SCBIO CEO James Chappell will deliver a “State of South Carolina’s Life Sciences Industry” address, while hundreds of attendees will take advantage of meetings, receptions and connection sessions.
Full details are available online, and registration to attend the two-day conference is open. Registration and exhibiting are free or discounted to SCBIO investors, and the conference is open to interested members of the public.
“Life sciences is a key driver of South Carolina’s economy, and this conference’s growth is testament to the industry’s surging impact, reach and rapidly rising economic significance in our state,” Mike Brenan, South Carolina regional president for Truist and the 2023 conference chair, said in the news release. “Already accounting for over 85,000 highly skilled jobs in the Palmetto State, life sciences have tremendous growth potential, and we’re excited to showcase the top companies, leaders, research universities and support organizations from across our state and country at SCBIO 2023.”
The two-day conference annually draws attendees from across America for networking, innovation updates, opportunity discovery, partnership making and strategic discussion. Already committed attendees include officials across a broad spectrum of life sciences industries including medical devices, bio manufacturing, drug discovery, R&D, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and testing, digital health and health IT, and bio-ag.
SCBIO is South Carolina’s investor-driven economic development organization exclusively focused on building, advancing and growing the life sciences industry in the state. The industry has more than 1,000 firms directly involved in the research, development and commercialization of innovative health care, medical device, industrial, environmental and agricultural biotechnology products.
Among leading biotech and med-tech industry brands participating in the conference are Nephron Nitrile, Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb, BIO, Johnson & Johnson, AVX, PhRMA, Medpoint, AdvaMed, Poly-Med, VWR, Rhythmlink, C-Safe, ZEUS, Patheon Thermo Fisher, Zverse, Abbott and Alcami. All of South Carolina’s research universities — MUSC, Clemson and the University of South Carolina — are represented, as are major healthcare systems, and economic development entities including the South Carolina Department of Commerce, SCRA, South Carolina Hospital Association and others.