The industrial exhibition, BioJapan 2022, Asia's Premier Partnering Event for the Global Biotechnology Industry, was held from October 12 to 14, 2022 in Yokohama, Japan. BioJapan has played an important role in facilitating interaction between Japanese and global companies/organizations and stimulating new business opportunities for almost two decades. Top business development, licensing, and alliance management professionals, R&D personnel, and biotech company executives from around the world have gathered in Yokohama, and there were around 15,800 visitors in these three days.

This year, ISTC supported two teams, one from Armenia and the other from Georgia. The followings are short reports by each of the two teams.

(Armenian team) Armenian team representing the Institute of Molecular Biology NAS RA, Armenian Bioinformatics Institute, and Institute of Biomedicine and Pharmacy of the Russian-Armenian University exhibited at BioJapan 2022, Asia’s largest event for the global biomedical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology sector. Three Armenian research and educational institutions presented their recent R&D results and solutions in the field of genomic and structural bioinformatics, computational biology, chemoinformatics, drug discovery, precision oncology, and big “biological” data analysis. Bioinformatics plays a vital role in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and biotechnology industries, supporting innovation in the pharmaceutical, biomedical, and biotechnology industries. There is a global unmet demand for bioinformatics expertise which opens unique opportunities for scientific and industrial collaborations on the international level. During the event, the Armenian team had meetings and discussions with the leading Japanese and international universities, large companies, and start-ups. These meetings were specifically focused on computational pipelines developed by the Armenian team for genomics research, drug discovery, and in silico evaluation of drug activity, which can significantly accelerate the process of finding cures for many diseases. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia in Japan H.E. Mr. Areg Hovhannisyan visited the Armenian booth and discussed with the team the opportunities for wider representation of Armenian universities and companies during upcoming events. Participation in the event provided Armenian researchers with new avenues for initiating collaborations with R&D organizations and universities. This in turn will open new opportunities for bioinformatics development in Armenia, and attract new talent to the field.   

(Georgian team) Eliava Consortium exhibited its bacteriophage products, research and medical services at BioJapan exhibition in Pacifico, Yokohama in its dedicated booth. Eliava team presented its products and services to booth visitors and performed around 65 short presentations to interested public. Alongside booth presentations 9 personal meetings have been held to discuss cooperation opportunities. Several promising possibilities of cooperation has been outlined including perspectives for product sales, provision of phage therapy services and scientific collaboration. Together with representatives of business and academia Eliava team also visited booths of governmental agencies to explore possibilities and regulatory frameworks for product importation to Japanese market. It was also interesting to visit booths of venture funds and capital investment companies that are looking for new startup opportunities for Japanese market, which may have reasonable perspectives for Eliava Consortium. Several follow up meetings have already been planned with representatives of business and academia to explore cooperation opportunities. Indeed, Participation on BioJapan exhibition was very important and fruitful for Eliava Consortium team.