Choose New Jersey and Partners to Promote New Jersey As Global Life Science Hub at World's Largest Biotechnology Event

PRINCETON, N.J., April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- To showcase New Jersey as one of the world's premiere locations for life science companies and medical research, Choose New Jersey, Inc. is collaborating with Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, the Business Action Center (BAC), BioNJ, the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) and other partners at the BIO International Convention in Chicago on April 22-25, 2013.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120618/NY26273LOGO )

This is the third year in a row that Choose New Jersey has led a delegation to BIO International, which is considered the largest biotechnology event in the world. Last year, the conference drew more than 16,500 industry leaders from 49 states and 65 countries, including large delegations from Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Australia, China and Brazil.

"New Jersey offers unrivaled opportunities for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device businesses," said Lt. Governor Guadagno. "BIO International is the perfect forum for sharing our state's competitive advantages with this highly targeted international audience. Simply put, our goal is to attract the businesses that will help sustain and grow the $58 billion economic output that the biopharmaceutical sector already contributes to the Garden State."

Representatives from the New Jersey delegation - the largest from the Garden State to attend this event in recent years - will meet with life science companies that have been identified as prospects for expanding or relocating to New Jersey, as well as with business and trade media covering the event. Choose New Jersey has also placed targeted advertising on mobile billboards and publications aimed at conference attendees.

"New Jersey is home to 14 out of the 20 largest biopharmaceutical companies, more than 3,100 biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and a thriving medical technology industry," said Tracye McDaniel, President and CEO of Choose New Jersey. "With more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, three medical schools among our 63 colleges and universities and 13 teaching hospitals, we offer biopharmaceutical companies a 'brain belt' second to none."  

Choose New Jersey is collaborating with BioNJ, HINJ and five New Jersey universities on the New Jersey pavilion at the conference, which will be emblazoned with the slogan "Big Ideas Happen Here." Participating universities include New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Princeton University, Rutgers University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). Additional companies representing New Jersey include Avison Young, Celgene Corporation, Genova Burns Giantomasi & Webster and Jones Lang LaSalle Americas.

Lt. Governor Guadagno and Choose New Jersey will also host prospect companies for a special dinner event on April 23. Sponsored by HINJ, the evening will provide networking opportunities for some of the world's top life science executives and will feature a presentation by Paul Hoffman, CEO of the Liberty Science Center.

About Choose New Jersey, Inc.
Choose New Jersey is one of four elements of the Partnership for Action (PFA) economic development organization led by Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. The PFA includes the Business Action Center, which provides the business community with a single point of contact, and applies a proactive, customer-service approach to businesses' interactions with State government; the Secretary of Higher Education, which coordinates, plans, develops policies, and advocates for the state's higher education system; the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, serving as the State's financing arm; and Choose New Jersey, a privately funded marketing, business attraction and lead generation organization that markets the state as an ideal location. For more information, visit www.chooseNJ.com.

Contact: Melissa Hensley, 609-297-2192
[email protected]

SOURCE Choose New Jersey, Inc.