[caption id="attachment_163809" align="alignleft" width="377"] Kurt Foreman, president and CEO of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership[/caption]

Delaware bioscience companies and boosters will showcase the state's strength at the international BIO Convention in Philadelphia from June 3 to 6. The annual event is expected to draw 18,000 venture capitalists, scientists, researchers and startups from 70 countries.

"Delaware has a uniquely expansive array of bioscience businesses," said Helen Stimson, CEO and president of the Delaware BioScience Association. "Unlike other states, Delaware's strength is its focus on innovation and its rich diversity of bioscience companies, including precision instrumentation, consumables, recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies, contract research organizations and contract manufacturing organizations."

Several Delaware business luminaries will speak at the conference. Kurt Foreman, president and CEO of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, will speak to Delaware's strength in bioscience. Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., head of Gene Editing at Christiana Care Health System and the pioneer of the CRISPR system, is leading the gene editing section at the convention.

In addition, 17 Delaware bioscience experts will serve as judges in the startup competition. The state will have an expansive exhibit, which will include space to facilitate one-on-one meetings.

This year, Delaware is offering a limited-capacity tour of the state's bioscience capabilities to conference attendees. The tour will stop in Wilmington, at the headquarters of Incyte, the biopharmaceutical research company ranked by Forbes as one of the nation's top 10 most innovative companies. At Incyte, the group will hear a panel discussion featuring Incyte CEO Hervé Hoppenot. The tour will then head to the University of Delaware's STAR campus in Newark.

"Delaware has the the fourth highest number of employed PhDs working in science, engineering and healthcare," said Foreman. "Add to that its enviable location, low cost of doing business, and collaborative, business-friendly environment and you see why Delaware is becoming the go-to location for science and tech start-ups."

More information is available here: www.choosedelaware.com/bio-convention