B.C. biotech business gets Olympic showcase

By Harry Jaako
Business in Vancouver

January 31-February 6, 2006

With the January 22 opening of B.C. Canada Place in Torino, Italy, B.C. has a startling showcase for its business community in the 2006 Olympic Games city.

The 4,000-square-foot log house in Piazzale Faldo Fusi square stands in stark contrast to the surrounding old stone buildings in this industrial northern Italian city that is the birthplace of auto maker Fiat. Up and running three weeks before the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games open in and around Torino, B.C. Canada Place is designed to celebrate B.C.'s past, present and future during its three-month run in this highly visible downtown location.

More than just a chalet that would be at home in the B.C. wilderness, the hand-crafted wooden structure backs against a state-of-the-art media centre that will pound out the high-volume Vancouver 2010 multimedia presentation to all those who visit.

The facilities also include a main floor reception area, meeting rooms upstairs, high speed Internet connections, the ability to simulcast events between Torino and B.C. and LCD TVs providing live webcam feeds from Whistler.

As important as it is to draw the world's attention to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the B.C. government is also determined to wring maximum economic benefit from the $600 million it will invest in the sports spectacle. Hence the focus on making B.C. Canada Place a mini-conference centre for business functions as well.

In its guise as a business centre, B.C. Canada Place was quickly pressed into action. The opening reception, which was attended by hundreds of curious Torino officials, was catered by Vancouver-based Culinary Capers, and the wines served were Osoyoos native band's Nk'mip Cellars chardonnay and merlot. The next morning, Sauder School of Business Dean Dan Muzyka chaired a pre-Davos World Economic Forum delegates breakfast meeting.

On January 23, the log house hosted its first all-day business seminar: B.C. Biotech Day.

Before an audience of Italian, Swiss and German biotech and pharmaceutical players pulled in by Sandra Marchesi, Canada's trade commissioner in Milano, a B.C. delegation pitched B.C.'s hot biotech sector. Its message: bringing value to international partners.

Kicked off by B.C.'s Economic Development Minister, Colin Hansen, B.C. Biotech Day was hosted by B.C. Biotech Association executive director Karimah Es Sabar. The session showcased biotech research and development excellence at UBC and other B.C. universities; biotech companies Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp., Allon Therapeutics Inc. and iCo Therapeutics; and the B.C. Cancer Agency.

Leading Edge B.C.'s Todd Tessier moderated a B.C. venture capital panel of Growthworks, B.C. Advantage Fund and Discovery Capital executives.

Judging from the lunchtime chatter, I think audience members were surprised that such a powerful message was presented by B.C.'s biotech community. They were expecting little in the way of world leadership in this sector from a place they associated with mountains, forests and pristine wilderness.

It was also evident that the European biotech scene finds it difficult to embrace the risks associated with early stage biotech company formation and investment.

B.C.'s ability to accept the risks of financing and developing early stage life sciences companies appeared to impress more than conservative European attendees, as did B.C.'s achievement of having created a good number of the only 20 biotech companies worldwide that have thus far become profitable. The B.C. government is hoping to attract a healthy mix of business programming through B.C. Canada Place over the coming months. Audiences are expected to include not only European business leaders, but also executives from Canada, the United States and elsewhere coming to Torino for the Olympics.

B.C. Canada Place should be a great attention-getter, and one has to applaud the audacity of plopping an incongruous log chalet into the heart of this gritty, elegant, historic Italian working city. However, the greatest memories might stay with the Italian children that enthusiastically take part in the daily street hockey games run by B.C. Canada Place staff just behind the log house in the square.