My mental soundtrack the last few weeks has been heavily weighted toward Ziggy Marley’s cheestastic “Tomorrow People,” and I’ll tell you one of the reasons why: I’m getting really excited about our upcoming Xconomy Forum, called Tomorrow’s Biotech—Innovators and Innovations.
I’ll confess to not quite getting what Mr. Marley meant by this idea of tomorrow people (anybody know?), but what my colleagues and I were thinking was there is a group of people who are right now laying the foundations for the future of New England’s life sciences industry, and who are building the technologies and companies that will utterly transform the way diseases are diagnosed and treated in the years to come. We wanted to gather those people together, and to foster a lively and open discussion among members of the local life sciences community about just what tomorrow could—and should—look like.
So that’s exactly what we’re doing, next Thursday, April 30. Biogen Idec has graciously provided us some beautiful space at its Building 8 in Cambridge Center for the forum. To provide some insight into the world of small-company innovation, this afternoon event will feature case studies on a couple of the most exciting startups in town (Zafgen and Forma Therapeutics), one on an equally interesting startup (Adimab) from New Hampshire, as well as one on Ironwood Pharmaceuticals—a smallish company perhaps on the cusp of some serious bigness. What’s more, three of the region’s most important public life sciences companies—Biogen Idec, Genzyme, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals—have agreed to lift the veil on some of their most cutting-edge programs. And two of biotech’s founding fathers—Wally Gilbert and George Church—will sit down for a chat with BU’s Jim Collins, a MacArthur Genius award winner and, like Church, an Xconomist.
There will be plenty of time during the forum and at the reception that follows it for attendees to mix and mingle with one another. Space, on the other hand, is dwindling—so if you want to register for the event the time for that is probably today. So to register, go here. To see the full agenda, go here. And for more on Mr. Marley’s thoughts about tomorrow and its people, go here—but I’m warning you, it’s sticky, sticky stuff.
