Advancing collaborative science

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5-9 January 2014

It's great to be back in India; this time for a mix of work and private travel. I arrived ahead of Catherine so that I could do a bit of work. Given my work with CSIRO in the Animal, Food and Health Division, it was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with some rapidly growing companies. Home base was the Crowne Plaza hotel in Maradu for a few days. Well above our normal standard but...

I travelled by taxi or private car to see the facilities of several natural product and biotech companies: Synthite; Camson; Arjuna; and Stirling. Each has their own story to tell, and I'll let them tell it through their websites, but I was very impressed by the scientific sophistication and sense of bigger purpose of these science-based companies. My travels were facilitated by a representation of the Australian Trade Commission. Having a local representative really opens doors. Each company is located outside of Kochi and in the countryside of Kerala. Great to get a little bit of open space, though the traffic is thick and challenging for a long distance around the city - perhaps like everywhere in India.

Catherine arrived in the evening of the 7th so the happy travellers were back together again.

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