IF THE technology sector has been one of the high profile over-achievers of the Irish economy in recent years, biotechnology is the quieter, younger sibling that has a harder time being noticed.
Yet biotechnology is being pegged as one of the hot new areas for growth here. Ireland has already begun to build a quietly confident profile abroad in this complex area at the intersection of technology and life sciences, where boundaries increasingly are blurred.
Indeed, many Irish biotech companies are better known in the US than in Ireland, while biotech interconnections and networking are arguably more prominent, and more public, in the US than in Ireland.
That's partly due to the pivotal support role played by networking organisation BioLink Ireland- USA, which this week is relaunching its website, www. biolinkusaireland.org and reorganising for its next phase of growth.
Formed in 2003 with the support of Enterprise Ireland, BioLink connects scientists and others from Ireland working in the biotechnology and life sciences fields in the United States, and includes a good dollop of Irish-American support as well.
The group has nine chapters in cities across the US and regularly holds events for members (there's a British counterpart too, Techlink UK-Ireland).
How useful are such networks? BioLink alone has facilitated 15 strategic partnerships, more than $18 million in investments and four board of director appointments to start-up companies.
Genentech's investment in Opsona, Trinity College Dublin's biotherapeutics company, resulted from conversations at a BioLink conference.
Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer established a link-up with Luxcel, a Cork screening-assay company, through BioLink, while Cellix, a Dublin microfluidic assay start-up, forged connections with both Amgen and Pfizer.
BioLink has also supplied introductions and support for bioscience graduates moving to the United States.
"BioLink was the only network in the US that started connecting people in science," says Kate Gunning, a TCD graduate who is vice-chairwoman of the organisation and regional director for BioLink West, the US west coast branch of the organisation.
"We were spun out from Enterprise Ireland and we've definitely benefited from its support, but they have also benefited from this amazing group of scientists, medics and academics," she says.
"We provide connections, experience, mentorship and tech transfer and actually, a lot of this experience is brought back to Ireland," she adds, as many people work a few years in the US, broaden their capabilities and then return to Ireland.
Given its close US contacts, BioLink routinely helps Irish- based companies looking to recruit Irish scientists who may be interested in returning to work in Ireland.
Based in south San Francisco, Gunning's own consultancy company, BioVisibility, works with both US and Irish biotech companies to develop opportunities in the US and provide a range of services from sourcing funding to providing public relations.
Gunning has been involved with BioLink since its beginning in California. "There's a very strong regional group in northern California," she says. About 120 people are involved within the group, some very active in networking events. "We pick a theme and invite people to come."
A typical example from earlier this year was an event in Silicon Valley at which three Irish life science leaders - Dr Cormac Kilty, founder and chief executive of Biotrin International, Tony Richardson, co-founder and chief executive of healthcare company Alltracel, and Prof Conor Heneghan, founder and chief scientific officer of BiancaMed - addressed the issue of finding success in a global market.
There is also a large annual event in the US for all chapters.
Some regional groups have always been more active than others - for example, the San Francisco, San Diego and New York chapters. This has led to the rethink and overhaul of the website and organisation, newly launched this week.
Until now, the site acted more as a central hub for information about various activities within the chapters.
Now, rather than simply listing activities for each group, BioLink has decided to have the site itself act as a virtual networking site, Gunning says.
"What we're doing is evaluating the value for our network of stakeholders, looking at their needs and deciding how to address those needs."
When BioLink began, there were clearer separations between sectors and fields of interest.
"Now, there's a definite movement between the sciences," she says. "We've seen people in semiconductors move over into biosciences. Nanotechnology is moving over, too, and we have bio folks who know we see an interest in alternative energy."
Thus the organisation feels there is greater value in forging networking connections between all members, rather than specific disciplines, and hopes for greater links to the broader technology sector, too.
One of the areas of expansion for BioLink that is top of its agenda in the near future is bringing Irish graduate student scientists over to work in leading university laboratories in the US. Initially, students went to Baylor College and Rice in Texas, then to Cornell in Boston.
Next, on her home turf, Gunning hopes to tie down a connection with nearby Stanford University in California, which she says is already very interested in setting up such a programme.
The new website will promote events, have videos of BioLink conferences and facilitate networking in new ways, including developing a group using business networking site LinkedIn.
"We really hope this will be a portal for information-sharing," she says.
Gunning says the Irish generally are natural networkers. "I think we have a very strong sense of community and we have a strong desire to help the new guy in town. We're very comfortable meeting and chatting. I think that's why we travel so well."
Quietly but assuredly, biotechnology in Ireland has begun to build a confident profile abroad in this complex area of life sciences and technology, writes Karlin Lillington
