ELIXIR, ELIXIR Finland and ELIXIR Estonia held a successful two-day ELIXIR Innovation and SME Forum in Helsinki on 27-28 March 2017.
The two-day event presented some of the bioinformatics resources in Genomics and Health available through ELIXIR and showcased several companies that are already using public data resources in their business.
Fifty attendees from companies, academic institutions and ELIXIR partners had a chance to hear introductions to ELIXIR activities in Europe, particularly in Finland and Estonia. Talks were given by two SMEs, Blueprint Genetics (Finland) and Protobios (Estonia), both active users of public data. Representatives of ELIXIR Nodes and companies also showcased their technologies, services and products in a series of flash talks.
The programme also included keynote talks from Anita Eliasson (Chief Operating Officer at BC Platforms) and Tõnu Esko (Deputy Director of Research at Estonian Biobank, Estonian Genome Center). During day two, a panel discussion on the role of SMEs and the public sector in genomics research and innovation also took place. Participants could also learn about some of the ELIXIR services in three Tech track sessions (ELIXIR Beacons, ELIXIR discovery portals on training (TeSS) and software tools (BioTools), and the European Genome-phenome Archive).
Overall, the discussion was very active and lots of new contacts were made during the two days. The next ELIXIR Innovation and SME Forum will take place in Barcelona on 5-6 June.
For any questions or follow up, please contact Pablo Roman-Garcia: pablo.roman@elixir-europe.org
About ELIXIR Innovation and SME Forum
ELIXIR's Innovation and SME programme is a series of specialised events for companies hosted by ELIXIR Nodes. The events provide companies with the opportunity of learning more about the emerging ELIXIR services and forge strong links with the local ELIXIR Nodes representatives running these services.