An international conference about marine bio-resources will take place in Wilmington next year, bringing company executives and trade officials to the area.
 
The annual BioMarine Business Convention, now in its fifth year, will convene for two days and likely include extra time for touring Wilmington area assets as well as those in other parts of the state with marine biotech activity, said Randall Johnson, executive director of the N.C. Biotechnology Center’s Southeastern Office.
 
“The deals that come out of these conferences measure in the millions per year,” Johnson said this week.
 
Johnson and Marine Bio-Technologies Center of Innovation CEO Deb Mosca – both based in Wilmington – are heading up the local effort to get ready for next year’s convention.

"This event is an ideal platform to showcase North Carolina’s strengths in the Blue Economy with the goal of creating opportunities for economic growth and new jobs in a market that currently exceeds $172 billion," Mosca said in an email.

Mosca and Johnson brought BioMarine leaders in last year to see the area and meet local public and business officials when the group was on tour of the East Coast and Canada to scout locations for the convention.
 
Last year’s convention was in Halifax, Canada, and this year’s, in October, takes place in Portugal. The Wilmington event will be the first time it is based in the U.S.
 
A small advance group from Portugal of six to eight people connected with the convention, including company representatives, are slated to visit Wilmington in September, Johnson said.
 
BioMarine started in France and initially targeted a couple thousand participants in its early years. But organizers have since scaled it down to several hundred people each year to focus on high-level players looking to invest in the biomarine industry, which includes uses ranging from health and pharmacology to renewable energy and aquafeed to cosmetics.
 
The Wilmington convention is expected to include between 250 and 300 participants, Johnson said.
 
When BioMarine founder and chairman Pierre Erwes visited Wilmington early last year, he said that more than 17 million euro, or $22.3 million, worth of deals came about as a result of connections at the 2012 convention in London.
 
That level of deal-making and exposure with the convention could be a boost for the state, Johnson said.
 
“It’s about showcasing our assets and economic development opportunities in the city, the region and entire state,” he said.