European Biotechnology and SLAS seal partnership

The collaboration between the association, which networks 20,000 members from academia and industry with a focus on automation and preclinical drug development, has now been officially confirmed. According to the agreement, European Biotechnology will present the latest trends in various aspects of laboratory automation and drug screening in four focus topics in cooperation with SLAS in 2025, and offer companies the opportunity to present their products, platforms and services to specific target groups in return for a print cost subsidy (1. Sustainability(Organoids/Microscaling,i 2. Technology integration – this is about cooperation/Integration of innovative technologiesinto existing technology platforms from laboratory providers, 3. Automation and data science/AI – this includes new ML/AI applications in the life sciences, but also the topic of AI talents/human resources and 4. Automating & New Modalities – this is about automation approaches and the development of new drug formats such as RNA, protein degraders, protein conjugates, immune cell engagers, bispecific CAR-Ts, -ADCs, miRNA modulators, phase transition modulators, etc.). European Biotechnology also reports on SLAS meetings, such as the next SLAS Europe in Hamburg (20-22 May 2025).

In return, SLAS provides its growing community, which is now to be expanded in Europe after the USA with the aim of improving cooperation and promoting dialogue, with the special and magazine content of European Biotechnology Magazine. Synergy effects are also expected for the German-language magazine transkript – and in particular the Lab Automation edition of LABORWELT.

The aim of the co-operation on both sides is to accelerate translational medicine, i.e. the technology transfer of the latest findings in the life sciences to the patient’s bedside. Despite excellent basic research, Europe has a lot of catching up to do in this area compared to the USA, emerging Asian economies and the Anglo-Saxon world, where financing, collaboration between deep-tech SMEs and large companies and the regulation of new technologies are less risk-averse.