In line with European Commission guidelines, the Milano Metropoli Development Agency (hereinafter "the Agency")  recognizes bio and nano technologies as a key sector for the local economy, an added value that can enhance the appeal and competitive edge of Milan's industrial system and, ultimately, a driver for the creation of new jobs.

There is no doubt that biotechnologies are a strategic economic sector for the Milanese area, which ranks first in Italy in terms of the number of biotech businesses, research institutes, universities, SMEs, start ups and spin offs. In collaboration with the Lombard Region and the Province of Milan, the Agency is working in this sector with different projects aimed at improving the competitive edge of local biotech players by creating specific instruments designed to:

- facilitate access to the biotech services available in the area;
- promote the internationalization of the sector;
- strengthen the Technological Transfer Offices (TTOs);
- expand international cooperation.

Main projects and initiatives developed:

• Network BioMilano, set up to promote the area both nationally and internationally. http://www.biomilano.it/.
  The Agency has helped the Province set up the BioMilano network, which currently has 19 key partners operating in the sector in universities, research institutes, scientific parks and public institutions. Thanks to this network there is now a directory of the services that these players can provide also to businesses and organizations outside the area. In its capacity as coordinator of BioMilano, the Agnecy is a member of CEBR - Council of European BioRegions (http://www.cebr.net/) which works to reduce the fragmentation of businesses and regions in Europe, to turn competitiveness into cooperation between the various areas, to create a platform for biotech initiatives in Europe that also includes the projects funded by the European Union.
  
  
• e-Biotech Lombardia, a portal designed to facilitate the aggregation of businesses and the search for services and opportunities. http://www.ebiotec.it/ 
  The purpose of the portal is to heighten awareness of appropriate services for consolidated or partially consolidated biotech companies, start ups or spin offs, in order to animate, aggregate and create a more competitive atmosphere for the biotech cluster present in the Milanese area.  Thanks to the technological platform with which it has been set up (RSS Really Simple Syndication), this portal can offer any SMEs, consortia, start ups and spin offs operating in the biotech field a constantly updated range of information from the most authoritative scientific and service portals concerning: scientific information (research, projects, news, innovation), the business and scientific company world, job offers in the biotech field, the services offered by the organizations working in Lombardy.
  The project, co-funded by the Lombard Region, is inspired by the project entitled Dynamics for a competitive biological park implemented by the Agency in 2006.
  
  
• International cooperation for learning, scientific and business exchanges.
  The contacts made in the context of the seminar entitled "Technological transfers, from the universities to start-ups", organized by the Agency, gave rise in 2007 to scientific and learning experiences in technological transfer offices in Israel (Yussmun, Technology Transfer in Jerusalem) and in the USA. 10 Italian firms also took part in specific meetings with Israeli companies during BIOMED Israel 2007.