Why Milan Punches Above Its Weight For Biotech Partnering

It’s 2025 and early signs are that it is time for biotech to thrive again. At BIO-Europe Spring, the essential gathering for cultivating thriving strategic partnerships, this year we’re in Milan, a fabulous city for creating connections that lead to successful collaborations. Join the event in this vibrant epicentre of Italian design and finance and help fashion the masterpieces of the future whilst catching up on the latest trends and emerging opportunities.

Italy’s magnificent, and beautifully outfitted, financial capital has a phenomenal cultural heritage. Leonardo da Vinci lived in the city for several years, and his iconic handiwork is all over Milan: he painted The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo in Italian) here and put his engineering expertise to use in renovating the city’s ‘Navigli’ canals too. There’s a wealth of his work on display at the National Museum of Science and Technology. Be inspired by Leonardo and make Milan the perfect place to take your partnering and business development to the next level.

Milan’s main landmark is its Cathedral, the marvellous Gothic Duomo, right in the heart of the city, which has spires that soar towards the heavens. So too can your prospects soar, as BIO-Europe Spring helps you connect with the right people, foster collaborations, and drive innovation in the life sciences and beyond. Time your partnering meetings right, and your travel between the opening reception at the luxurious Principe di Savoia hotel, and the closing reception at the beautiful Palazzo del Ghiaccio, formerly the world’s largest ice skating rink, and you should be able to fit in a cappuccino (with no sugar, in the Italian style) in the Plaza del Duomo, and possibly an ice cream too (try the famous gianduia ‘nut chocolate’ at The Massimo del Gelato parlour).

Milan has a proud story to tell in biotech too and is working hard to attract investors and companies to what could become Europe’s next big biotech hub. What gives it an important edge is it has eight international universities producing research and supplying a steady stream of highly talented STEM graduates for a buzzing ecosystem bursting with startups, incubators, internationally renowned accelerators (check out Berkely Skydeck Europe) and new tech zones, including the Milan Innovation District (MIND), where over a thousand international researchers at the Human Technopole are on a mission to improve human life and technology. A Milan speciality is genomics and digital health, with over 250 pharma and biotech companies in the Milan metropolitan area, which you can explore in detail in the YesMilano Innovation Map, an open-access platform providing real-time intel on the ecosystem.

If in life sciences, we don’t take a moment to enjoy life in a place as beautiful and vibrant and as full of science, as Milan, then we really are missing an opportunity! Look high up amongst the towering spires of the Duomo, which features the highest number of statues and gargoyle in the world. On the Central Terrace, be re-invigorated by the unusual sight of two boxers sparring, captured in exquisite marble, which is a celebration of the real-life boxer, Primo Carnera, who, in 1933, became the first Italian to win the world heavyweight championship. Reflect on how taking a good close look at something can yield unexpected value and apply that to your partnering thinking.

Register now to attend BIO-Europe Spring this March and be part of the community propelling the new wave of innovation in this ancient city which is so captivatingly modern.