Burrill and Former VNU Form Joint Venture

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 1/29/2007

VNU Business Media (now the Nielsen Company) and Burrill & Co. have formed a joint venture, Burrill Life Sciences Media Group, to produce events and publications about life sciences and biotechnology.

According to Nielsen Company President and CEO Robert Krakoff, the new entity comprises five existing Burrill conferences; Burrill publications, such as an annual report on the state of the industry; and a series of weekly electronic and print newsletters. In March the Group will launch a new publication, which Krakoff likened to the prestigious Journal of Foreign Affairs. Called the Journal of Life Sciences, it will offer information from life science and biotechnology experts.

There will also be a significantly expanded tradeshow element. Krakoff said, "There are tabletop exhibitions at some of the existing conferences, and we will work with Burrill to develop those into tradeshows. We're looking at the U.S. for these, as well as at such growing markets as China and India." Burrill organizes annual executive-level conferences such as the Stem Cell Meeting, Personalized Medicine Meeting and Biotech Meeting at Laguna Niguel.

Krakoff said that the demand for high-quality life science information is driving fast growth for that sector in the business media marketplace. The agreement with Burrill, he added, was the first step in providing Nielsen with a top-notch portfolio of events, conferences, publications, newsletters and annual biotech state-of-the-industry reports.