BRUSSELS, Belgium - The third annual conference of the European Union's Biotech and Finance Forum will take place Thursday to Saturday in Cambridge, UK.

To help consolidate growth in the European biotechnology industry, the European Commission and the European Association of Securities Dealers organized this encounter between stakeholders from research, industry and finance to facilitate new alliances, mergers and partnerships. The program this year will focus on business and finance opportunities, and includes 24 "elevator pitches" - one-minute presentations by 24 biotech companies, both start-up and established, giving them the opportunity to attract financial backing or partnerships.

The aim of the conference is to "facilitate consolidation in the biotech sector in Europe and to reinforce the virtuous circle of research, industry, finance stakeholders and a new generation of bio-entrepreneurs that can start up and flourish," said Bruno Hansen, director of the Life Sciences Research Directorate of the European Commission.

¿ The European Commission said that over the past four years the EU biotech sector has experienced a growth of 131 percent in the number of firms, 211 percent in the number of employees and 264 percent in revenues. Comparison with the United States shows that Europe now has an equivalent number of companies, according to the Commission; however, U.S. companies generate five times more income and three times more employment.

¿ In parallel to its new grouping of biopharmaceutical companies, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations has decided greater coordination is needed to respond to a deluge of new European Union initiatives on biotechnology. It is setting up a new group to deal with them - "a multidisciplinary center of expertise where aspects related to new technologies are being discussed and industry positions developed." The group would also serve as the industry's main vehicle for contacts on biotechnology with EU and international institutions, academia, and medical and patient communities.

¿ The European Commission's research programs on quality of life on cell factories have supported 80 industrial biotechnology projects in the EU over the last three years, with funding amounting to EUR136 million (US$117 million) for total project costs of EUR230 million.

¿ European ministers on Thursday will debate new proposals from the European Commission on traceability and labeling of genetically modified organisms. The proposals are intended to fill a gap in EU legislation, so as to guarantee consumer choice over whether to purchase genetically modified foods, and to discuss withdrawal of GM products that have entered the food chain without authorization.