Bath-based specialist online publisher SelectScience has helped thousands of scientists and scientific manufacturers from across the globe shrug off the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on international industry gatherings by inviting them to the world’s first Virtual Analytical Summit.
With key events in the science industry calendar postponed due to Covid-19, the virtual summit offered a crucial forum for scientists to continue to connect, share knowledge and provide technology solutions to advance science and health at what many see as a critical time. 
More than 8,300 scientists from 140 countries took part in ‘live’ webinar presentations and virtual exhibit booths over three days — the first in a series that SelectScience will stage over the coming months.
The event featured talks by eminent scientists, technology workshops, virtual exhibitor booths featuring leading brands, product and application news, as well as live Q&As.
Headline themes up for discussion included food security, cannabis testing, materials science, life sciences and pharma, with several presentations placing the spotlight on research into Covid-19.
More than 40 presentations were staged – with the most popular drawing attendances of up to 500 people – far more than most physical shows. The event content reached a further 400,000 online as word quickly spread on social media.
SelectScience editor-in-chief and publisher Kerry Parker, pictured below, said: “Our new virtual summits are designed to support the industry at this difficult time to ensure communication and collaboration continues to flourish.
“We’ve been delighted by the response from across the industry, especially as we only had two weeks to announce and launch the summit.” 
Speakers at the inaugural summit included GSK fellow Dr John Kellie; director of Macromolecules Innovation Institute, Virginia Tech, Prof Tim Long; principal investigator, University of Duisburg-Essen, Prof Oliver Schmitz; Dr Gili Ben-Nissan of Weizmann Institute of Science; Prof Jane Dyson of The Scripps Research Institute; Dr Diane Turner, founder and director of Anthias Consulting, and Prof Igor K Lednev, principal investigator, University of Albany.
Prof Long said: “This virtual summit represents a timely mechanism to collectively partner and envision next-generation technologies at a critical time in history.
“It provides a necessary moment to pause from the global chaos and envision the science necessary to help the world.”
Prof Dyson added: “We are very fortunate that the infrastructure is in place for virtual communication. As scientists, as citizens, and as human beings, we can take advantage of these methods to connect with each other, perhaps to learn something new and set us thinking in new and productive directions.”
Exhibitors – including many of the world’s biggest scientific manufacturers – attracted as many as 700 virtual attendees to their booths during the summit, which attracted scientists working in fields ranging from pharma and food to environmental and materials.
Exhibitor BMG LABTECH’s vice president of US sales and business development. Eric Matthews, said: “It’s important to keep communication open through a summit like this because the work that our customers are doing is critical for advancing not just infectious disease research, but other basic research.
“What we’re doing affects people at home right now – if we can continue to do our jobs, people are going to be healthier in the future and have more prosperous lives.”
All presentations are available to view on demand here.
Forthcoming SelectScience Virtual Summits include:
May 11-13, 2020: Virtual Summit on Cancer and Immunology Research
July 20-22, 2020: Virtual Clinical Chemistry Summit
SelectScience, based at Corston, was formed in 1998 and provides vital information for scientists around the world, enabling them to better communicate about scientific products and help accelerate critical research globally. It is also a trusted online resource on Google.
