Appendix A – List of interviewees
In this appendix, a description is given of the people I had interviews with. By presenting the CVs of the people, insight is gained about the different industry specialists I spoke to. The names are alphabetically ordered.
Prof. Richard J. Artley, ETeCH Management GmbH
Richard read Natural Sciences, specialising in Metallurgy & Materials Science, at Christ's College, Cambridge (MA 1986); since 1990 he has also been a member of High Table. In 1984 he joined ICI Electronics Group and in 1986 the Government of Japan awarded him the Monbusho Scholarship to research perpendicular magnetic recording with its inventor, Professor Iwasaki, at Tohoku Imperial University: for his discoveries he was later awarded his honorary title. In 1988 he became the ICI Japan Technical Liaison Officer, and in 1989 he joined ICI Chemicals & Polymers New Business Strategy Group.
In 1990, he joined Scientific Generics in Cambridge, Europe's leading business & technology consultancy, advising major companies on lithium batteries, flat-panel displays, copy-secure paper, solar cells, advanced magnets & fuel cells, and developing new food, beverage, medical & health-care consumer products. He was also active in the investment activities of The Generics Group. For the University of Groningen he created and still advises the nanotechnology partnership Biomade Technology Foundation/Applied NanoSystems B.V. In 2000 he created Avantium International BV in Amsterdam for Shell International Chemicals as a spin-out company in high-speed catalyst testing, and became its founding Business Director, responsible for commercial & business planning, and delivering agreed revenues.
In 2002 Richard joined ETeCH Management GmbH in Zurich as Chief Scientist, his current position. ETeCH is a new Swiss venture capital fund investing very early stage funds &
business skills into emerging high technologies, principally discoveries from European academic institutions, in a wide range of application fields including medical & dental, electronics & spintronics, communications, materials, energy and engineering. He also writes and lectures on technology exploitation for a number of leading European institutions.
Sil de Graaf, NV Rede
After the HEAO (Higher Economic Education), Sil de Graaf studied Business Economy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). After his study (1993) he started to work at the ING Bank. In 1994 his job changed to the insurance company Stad Rotterdam Verzekeringen. In 1995 he made a change towards SME companies as a consultant at Bureau Zelfstandigen in Rotterdam. In 1999 Sil joined NV Rede (Eindhoven).
NV Rede is the economic development agency for the Eindhoven region in the Netherlands.
Their goal is to stimulate the economic activities and strengthen the economic structure in this region. As a government agency, NV Rede provides information and practical assistance free of charge. This way, NV Rede does not compete with commercial organisations. Services, all provided on a confidential basis, include providing insight and data on site selection and logistics strategies and intensive, personal guidance on such matters as available incentives, and permit procedures and tax structures. NV Rede introduces corporate investors to a variety of Dutch networks and service suppliers in business, to government authorities at the national and regional levels, to academic and private sector consultants, and to others integral to the investment process. The target group is small and medium sized companies in the industrial and services sector.
Ir. Johan G. Hanstede, BioFarmind
Johan Hanstede studied biology at the Wageningen University for Life Sciences. From 1978 until 1984 he worked as a scientist at the laboratory of embryology and anatomy for the University of Groningen. Next to his scientific research on the human lever, he took part in the education of the medical faculty. In 1995 he started at Bristol Myers. After three years he started to work for Christeans as a marketing sales manager and later on as a scientific director. In 1990 he started as a business development manager at Amgen with responsibilities in the field of medical allowances, economic & legal affairs and Public Relations/Public Affairs. At Amgen he was also actively involved in different taskforces of Nefarma and after several years he was a board member of the Stichting MFR. Since 1 January 2002 he works as an independent consultant/advisor in the medical biotechnological industry. Since the foundation in 1998 he is chairman of the association BioFarmind. He is also a member of the Platform Medische Biotechnologie, the Forum Genetica Gezondheid en gezondheidszorg and the Stuurgroep Weesgeneesmiddelen.
Ir. Haifen Hu, BioPartner
Haifen Hu is manager entrepreneurship and education at BioPartner Network. She studied bioprocess technology at the Wageningen University. During her study she was actively involved in different student bodies. She graduated in molecular biology as well as communication & innovation studies and entrepreneurship. Her interest in life sciences and entrepreneurship brought her to BioPartner, where she started as project manager in January 2001. Since 2002 she is responsible for projects in the fields of education and entrepreneurship, like the BioPartner Masterclass Biobusiness, monitoring the life sciences sector and advising start-ups.
Jean-Jacques de Jaegher, Applied NanoSystems B.V.
Mr. De Jaegher is CEO of Applied NanoSystems B.V. and joined the company in February 2001. His career of 27 years has been primarily in the in-vitro diagnostics industry. He has held a number of senior management positions with Abbott Laboratories, both in Europe and the United States, with responsibilities for sales, marketing, business development, M&A and general management.
Bart Klein, Crucell Holland B.V.
Bart Klein graduated in Chemical Biology in 1988. After his military service he started his business career at Mogen International B.V. as patent officer. In 1995 he joined the Koninklijke Gist-brocades B.V. as patent attorney and in 1998 the Koninklijke KPN N.V. as Manager Intellectual Property Group. 2001 was the year when he started his current position as Executive Director Intellectual Property at Crucell Holland B.V. In 2002 he was promoted to Vice President Intellectual Property & Licensing of Crucell, making him responsible for all in-licensing and (strategic) out-licensing projects.
Mr. Linda A. Stienstra, Zernike Group Patenting & Licensing Bureau
Linda Stienstra is chief executive of the Zernike Group Patenting & Licensing Bureau. This is part of the Zernike Group B.V. in Groningen. The Patenting & Licensing Bureau was established to exclusively manage the intellectual property of the University of Groningen.
Nowadays the bureau is often asked to assist in the commercialisation of intellectual property of other universities, institutions and companies.
Prof. dr. George T. Robillard, Biomade Technology Foundation
Prof. dr. Robillard is director of the Biomade Technology Foundation and a full professor at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB) of the University of Groningen. After receiving his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Washington, he was a post doctoral fellow and research associate at Princeton University and Bell Laboratories. His research included the structure and function of membrane transport proteins and plant storage proteins and the design, modification and use of bio-macromolecules in nano-systems. He was founder of the GBB and is scientific director until 1999. He has been a board member of the Netherlands Foundation of Chemical Research, the foundation for Basic Research on Materials, the Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics and the Innovative Research Programme for Industrial Proteins.
Niek Roosdorp, Biorogen B.V.
Dr. Roosdorp is the Managing Director and only employee of Biorogen B.V. Before founding Biorogen in 1995, Dr. Roosdorp was Vice President, Business Development, of Chiron Corporation in Emeryville, California (1989-1994). Between 1984 and 1989, he worked for Cooper Development Corporation in Mountain View, California. The last part of his employment at Cooper, he served as the Vice President, Business Development and Technology. Between 1981 and 1984, Dr. Roosdorp was Manager, International Business Development of Syva International, a subsidiary of Syntex Corporation in Palo Alto, later acquired by Roche. He transferred to Syva from Astra-Syntex Scandinavia where Dr. Roosdorp served in the capacity as Medical Director for the Nordic countries from 1981 to 1982. Dr. Roosdorp started his professional career at Pharmacia Diagnostics in Uppsala, Sweden, where he started as a Research Manager in 1977. Dr. Roosdorp received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1972. Subsequently, he moved to Sweden, where he received his Ph.D. degree in pharmaceutical biochemistry at the University of Uppsala in 1977.
Marieke Samson, BioMentor
Marieke Samson got her Masters and Doctoral degree in Biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam. She also completed studies in pharmaceutical chemistry at the Free University and the University of Florence and Business administration studies with a specialisation in, Marketing. Her working career started as a Biotechnology advisor at the Ministry of Economic Affairs/SENTER. Her next assignment was as a Manager of BioCentrum Amsterdam, which is a joint research centre and graduate school of both Amsterdam universities. Her last job before her present position was Technology Transfer Officer for Life Sciences for the University of Amsterdam. She now seats in the management of BioMentor as one of the two founders. She has specific expertise in creating academic starts-ups in biotechnology.
Drs. Michel Simons, Vectrix Consultants B.V.
Michel Simons is director and founder of Vectrix Consultants B.V. He studied organisation sociology at the University of Amsterdam and completed a post-doctoral study of European business administration at the Erasmus College in Brussels. After working in the lobby business in Brussels he started as a subsidy and technology advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers N.V. In 1998 he was one of the founders of Vectrix. Within this venture, Michel Simons deals with problems regarding subsidies and finance for technology companies. Together with other service providers, Vectrix executes the program High Tech Services. This program offers almost every relevant advise services to technology companies on ‘no cure, no pay’ terms.
Dr. Johan Wemer, Applied NanoSystems B.V.
Johan Wemer studied at the University of Amsterdam, where he obtained his degree as a medical doctor and as a pharmacist. Then he did a Ph.D.-research on presynaptic alpha adrenoreceptors in the CNS. He received postdoctoral qualifications as clinical and experimental pharmacologist. He gained working experience in academia by working for the University hospital of Amsterdam, the National Institute of Public Health (Bilthoven, The Netherlands) and the University of Utrecht. He gained working experience in the pharmaceutical industry by working for Pharma BioResearch (Zuidlaren, The Netherlands), Experimental Medicine Pfizer (UK) and Experimental Medicine AstraZeneca (Zweden). He joined Applied NanoSystems B.V. in April 2002 where he is Vice-President Clinical Pharmacology.
Nils de Witte, NeBiB
Nils de Witte was born in 1958 in Rotterdam. After his VWO (1978) and military service (navy), he briefly studied medicines (till 1982) in Leiden. After a series of sales and marketing functions in SMEs, he achieved a marketing master degree (post-doctoral) in 1992 and started for himself as a Marketing & Management Advisor. During his career the main topics where “new business development”, starting new marketing & sales activities. After the experience of the difficulties in finding an investor he decided to do something about this.
Together with his companion Ben Lacor, they started NeBiB in 1995. NeBiB is an organisation focusing on finding suitable investors for innovative start-ups.
Jan W. Zuidema, 4Vision Marketing
Jan Zuidema has his own company called 4Vision Marketing. This is a marketing advisory bureau for the high-tech industry. Before this he worked for the N.V. NOM (Investment and development institution for the Northern region of the Netherlands) as project manager life sciences. In this job he saw a lot of different aspects of the innovative industry. Among other things he worked on problems regarding young entrepreneurs, formation of networks in the life sciences industry in the Northern region of the Netherlands (BioMed City Groningen) and acquisition of companies towards the Northern region of the Netherlands.
