Conferences and Their Proceedings

Abstract

The biotechnology conference has become a very successful business activity in the last ten years. Hardly a week passes without some such event taking place in the USA or Europe. These meetings are of two main types: ‘commercial’ events (i.e. run primarily to generate a profit for the organizers) and ‘academic’ research gatherings. The latter are usually organized by scientific societies and frequently aim only to break even financially. Although attendance fees may differ greatly, both have the same aims: to educate those who attend and to provide a venue in which participants can meet and talk face-to-face. In general, the biotechnology events run by professional conference-organizing companies are more expensive and lavish meetings held in large hotels or conference centres and are aimed at the business and investment communities. The research-oriented events may be far less costly and attract scientists from both academic and corporate laboratories. Usually, these will concentrate more on the dissemination of research results than state-of-the-art reviews.