A WHOLE new climate of co-operation has opened up between York's famous bioscience organisations and the U.S.

That was the conclusion today of a team which last week flew to Washington to market York's burgeoning bioscience cluster at the massive BIO 2003 exhibition, attended by more than 15,000 people from 40 nations.

The team's mission was to market the world class research, technical facilities and growing bioscience companies, now clustered in the area through the Bioscience York initiative.

Established in 1995, Bioscience York is a leading UK public and private sector partnership, now representing more than 2,000 life scientists and 40 companies in the York area, with particular expertise in drug development, plant biotechnology, and health and food sciences.

Representing the initiative were Professor Tony Robards, Pro-Vice Chancellor for External Relations at the University of York, and Anna Rooke, manager of Science City York.

Now back home, Ms Rooke said today: "By working with agencies similar to Science City around the world we established mew links and new opportunities for our companies on their own trade missions.

"We have identified other organisations to give them hand-holding support of the same kind they get here in York should they want to set up a U.S. office. We now know where some of the best locations are and the packages of support they can get."

BioScience York was specifically selected by the DTI and the BioIndustry Association (BIA) to form part of the UK's representation, showcasing the strengths of the country in an industry where the UK is second to only the U.S. in technical innovation and new products.

Bioscience York was part of the UK Pavilion, together with partners in Manchester and Newcastle, under the banner of North of England Bioscience. And while they were all far from home it was regarded as an ideal chance for their various Science Cities to forge closer links.

Opportunities initiated by York's Inward Investment Board and Science City York last year were further explored. "There were a couple of promising leads," said Ms Rooke, adding that they were in the areas of technology transfer or "knowledge swaps".

As well as the main conference and exhibition, a series of key meetings were lined up with U.S. organisations to explore future partnership opportunities, not just in bioscience, but also in information and communication technology, and heritage and arts technology, where York has significant expertise.

Professor Robards said that it was "essential that York makes its presence felt at events such as this in order to claim our deserved place on the world stage.

Updated: 10:39 Tuesday, July 01, 2003