Looking ahead to the BIO 2010 convention taking place in Chicago in May, fDi editor Courtney Fingar chats with former BIO co-panelist Douglas Clark, director of RSM Tenon, about the shape of the life sciences sector in the post-crisis economy and the trends likely to dominate discussion at the event, which include a continued raft of mergers and acquisitions by pharma companies, an increasing number of partnerships between developed and developing markets and a bigger focus on industry innovation in the developing markets. The question is also raised as to whether the global recession might have caused a shake-out in the overcrowded investment promotion space, with some of the weaker locations abandoning overambitious plans to become biotech hubs in favour of adopting more realistic strategies for economic develoment. A walk around the exhibition floor at BIO will shed light on who is left standing.