Following the First Circular announcing the Conference "2000-The Era of Biotechnology", it is our great pleasure to invite you to attend the Conference and to give you further details on the Conference program. The Conference will be the high-point of Ben Gurion University's celebrations to mark the inauguration of the new building housing the Institute for Applied Biosciences. The Conference will start with a Ceremony for the Inauguration of the building of the Institute for Applied Biosciences . A festive celebration under the auspices of the donors, Linda and Edgar de Picciotto of Geneva, Switzerland will follow.

A tentative program with detailed information on the Scientific Program and the Special Events that will accompany the Conference is attached. One of the highlights of the meeting will be a Round Table Discussion in which topics pertaining to perspectives on technology transfer and the academic/ industrial interface--barriers and solutions-will be discussed and illustrated.

The final event planned will be a meeting between academia, industry and the venture capital community to provide a platform for people to meet and exchange ideas and to identify new ideas and potential collaborations.

In the framework of the Conference, Honorary Doctorates will be conferred on Prof. Baruch Blumberg, Nobel Laureate, and on Prof. Rita Colwell, Director of NSF.

We hope most sincerely that you will join us at this exciting event on 24-27 October, 2000 in Beer-Sheva, Israel.