Gov. Sonny Perdue plans to lead dozens of scientists, business executives and state officials from Georgia to San Diego in June for the largest biotechnology conference in the world, his office said today. Next year, the conference will be held in Atlanta for the first time.

More than 20,000 people are expected at the Washington-based Biotechnology Industry Organization's San Diego convention, which runs June 17-20.

Perdue is expected to tout Georgia as a biotech Mecca at the convention.

The San Diego meeting is expected to attract thousands who work in the high-paying, high tech industry.

Many scientists and companies will be looking for seed money to develop biotech discoveries in fields ranging from agriculture to vaccine development to the latest discoveries involving the human genome.

Perdue is expected to make a speech, his office said, touting what Georgia has to offer in the field of biotech. In the United States, biotech revenues are estimated to be about $59 billion.

There's plenty of biotech research now in the works at Georgia institutions, including Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Emory University, the Morehouse School of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia in Augusta and Mercer University in Macon.

Charles Craig, head of Georgia Bio, a biomedical partnership, said the conference "will showcase life sciences applications related to health care, agricultural biotechnology and bioenergy."

He said a "good definition of biotechnology is the application of cellular and biological programs to solve problems and make useful products."

Mike Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of the Georgia Research Alliance, also plans to attend the convention, which the group hopes will attract money and companies to the state.

"This is a unique opportunity to showcase the groundbreaking bioscience research underway at our universities and how research discoveries are driving the creation and growth of this vital industry in our state," he said. "It is an important step in positioning Georgia's potential as a regional and national leader in bioscience.

The GRA is a private, nonprofit corporation whose board of trustees is drawn from the top levels of some of the state's largest corporations and its university partners, Cassidy said. Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said the state "expects CEOs of all major pharmaceutical and life science companies to be in attendance in Atlanta next year, and we will have broad based support from Georgia companies, research institutions, scientists."

"All of these meetings are attempting to connect technology with venture capital," Stewart said. "It's very, very significant to the state."

The Biotechnology Industry Organization's International Convention will be held May 17-20 next year in Atlanta.