Scendea’s Travel Round Up
Five Minutes with Senior Business Development Manager, Stuart Hunter.
Over September and October, our Director, Paul Cronin, and Senior Business Development Manager, Stuart Hunter, have travelled to pharmaceutical and biotech hotspots in Canada, the US and Europe, to attend leading life science conferences, networking events, and meetings with our valued clients.
Upon his return, we sat down with Stuart to discover the key highlights from our Business Development Team’s recent international travels.
Both you and Paul have been travelling for a total of 7 weeks, can you tell us a little about what this has entailed?
“It has certainly been a busy few weeks, however, I cannot claim to have been as busy as Paul. We have embarked on several meetings with valued clients and have met with new prospective clients who require product development & regulatory support for their innovative technologies.”
Which conferences did you both attend and where?
“My travels have taken me to Malmo in Sweden for NLSDays and more recently to Leipzig in Germany for BIO Europe. Paul has seen many cities across North America, visiting Montreal, Toronto, Boston, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and L.A. before joining me in Leipzig. Whilst touring the US and Canada, Paul attended RESI, BioPharm America and Cell and Gene on the Mesa, amongst other networking events. In addition to these locations, I have also been visiting local biotech hubs in the UK.”
What has been your highlight from your international travels and attendance at the events and conferences?
“Paul and I both agree how great it is to be back meeting people in person, following a long-enforced break. During the last 2 years, events and meetings have continued with virtual attendance, and the event organisers have done a wonderful job ensuring events have continued during this time, but you really cannot replace the value of meetings occurring in person.”
Most recently you have been travelling throughout Europe, do you have a key moment that you found insightful from your time at BIO Europe and NLSDays?
“The sheer number of experts from all around the world dedicating their life’s work to developing new ground-breaking treatments is simply amazing! We are truly privileged to be working with so many wonderful clients from all regions around the world.”
How did you find using the partnering platforms?
“The partnering systems are vital for these events. Without having these systems in place, scheduling the meeting times and dates would be a logistical challenge. The nature of the systems allows us to set our availability, view the company profiles and request meetings. Without these, we really wouldn’t be able to fulfil the meetings as we do.”
You have attended multiple conferences in person and virtually over the last 7 weeks, how have these differed and did you have a preference between the two formats of attendance?
“The format of these meetings is very similar, 30-minute meetings to learn what you can about the products and the companies we meet, and their stage of development. A virtual meeting does offer the same opportunity to take away what we need, but being present in person allows a natural interaction you just can not re-create virtually, so I would always favour this format to meet anyone.”
Where is Scendea travelling to next?
“Paul and I will be back in Germany next week for CPHI, and will also be attending the 2nd half of BIO Europe virtually, we are excited to meet some of our European partners, and still have some availability. We are then taking a short break from international travel to focus on some of the events here in the UK, such as the Investival Showcase and Genesis which are both being held in London across November and December.
It is then back to a busy international schedule for 2023, where I will be taking on board Paul’s biggest tip when travelling to these events, which is simply… buy some comfortable shoes!”
Attending conferences such as BioPharm America, Cell&Gene Meeting on the Mesa, NLSDays and BioEurope; Paul and Stuart have gained important new insight into both the ever-evolving biotechnology industry and product development and regulatory affairs landscape.
Since joining Scendea in 2021, Stuart’s focus has been on the growth of the company, leading him to the position of Senior Business Development Manager. Stuart now works closely with the BD and Marketing team to develop business partnerships and forge new client relations across the globe.
If you are interested in a career in regulatory affairs, get in touch…