Next week, Penn will be the site of an international summit on biotechnology investment opportunities in the United States.
On Monday, 20 officials from Taiwan will arrive in Philadelphia for the two-day conference, which will focus on the development of biotechnology trade and integrating Taiwan into the U.S. biotechnology industry.
The summit will be sponsored by the United States-Republic of China (Taiwan) Business Council, a non-profit organization that helps develop trade and business relationships between the United States and Taiwan.
Some Penn faculty members from the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science will lead roundtable discussions between Taiwanese officials and representatives from U.S. companies.
Provost Robert Barchi said that the summit leaders approached Penn to host the conference partially because of its prime location in the biotechnology field.
"This is a very high-level trade delegation from Taiwan," Barchi said. "As they look for partners in technology... Philadelphia is particularly prominent. This is a very concentrated area for large pharmaceutical companies."
Barchi added that Penn's credibility in the academic sector and its strength in the life sciences helped attract the delegates.
The delegation "approached us as the academic focus in the part of the country that had the best credibility to stimulate this conversation," he said.
Barchi and University President Judith Rodin will deliver opening remarks at the convention. Keynote speakers include Penn Genomics Institute Director David Roos and Center for Technology Transfer Managing Director Lou Berneman.
Although Penn faculty will be directly involved in the meetings, Barchi said the focus is on facilitating discussion between the two nations, not on making connections for the University.
"We look at this more as providing the expertise that Penn has to the international community," Barchi said. "We are the experts that they were coming to."
Taiwan has made a major push in the field of biotechnology in recent years. The government will commit $1.5 billion over the next five years to research, development and promotion of biotechnology initiatives.
"Taiwan has determined that their own economic future is going to be best supplemented by moving in the direction of biotechnology," Barchi explained.
The group of delegates will visit four other states during their trip to the United States, culminating their visit in Boston at the 25th Annual Joint Business Conference of the US-ROC and ROC-US Business Councils.
