Dedicated to tech-transfer by bringing together private and public innovators, Biofit will refresh definitely your innovation landscape through panels and workshops on:

Conference Program Sponsor

BioFIT aims at stimulating and facilitating technology transfer and collaborative projects in the life science sector. To officially launch the first edition of this event, prestigious speakers from the biotechnology area, the pharmaceutical industry and the academia will share their views and give advices to maximize the efficiency of renewed strategic alliances, collaborations and licensing agreements.  KEYNOTE SPEAKERS  G. Steven Burrill, Chief Executive Officer of Burrill & Company, USA Biography »» Ashley J. Stevens, President of the AUTM, USA Biography »»

Biofit 2010: the meeting place of prestigious speakers …
Meet here some of the speakers who already confirmed their participation to this event:

Christian Béchon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LFB (France)

Christian Béchon, born in 1959, is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures engineering school, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, he became a public auditor on leaving the Ecole Nationale d'Administration in 1988.
Before joining LFB, he held the following positions: Deputy General Secretary of the public auditing body for French Social Security from 1988 to 1992, then General Secretary of IPSN, the French Nuclear Protection and Safety Institute from 1992 to 1994.
From April 1994 to May 1995, he was Deputy Chief of Staff to André Rossinot, then Minister for Public Service under Prime Minister Edouard Balladur.

After a short spell as General Secretary of CNES, the National Space Research Centre (May-June 1995), he was Chief of Staff to Elisabeth Hubert, Minister for Public Health and Health Insurance under Prime Minister Alain Juppé from June to November 1995. He was then an investigator on the Central Investigative Committee on the cost and yield of public services (1996) before returning to public auditing in April 1997. At the same time, he was General Delegate to the Industrial Forum Circle from 2000 to 2002. From 2000 to 2004, he has been Deputy Chief of Staff to Francis Mer at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry under Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin from 2002 to 2004, as well as Chief of Staff to Industry Minister Nicole Fontaine. Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group in 2005, Christian Béchon was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LFB S.A. in 2006

Garold Breit, Executive Director, Technology Transfer Office (TTO) of the University of Manitoba (Canada)

Garold Breit is a leader with extensive experience in technology-based organizations.  His career began at Revlon, where he served as a Senior Marketing Manager and member of the Corporate Acquisitions Team.  Mr. Breit has served as the president of biopharmaceutical companies and has launched three successful intellectual asset programs at dramatically-different academic institutions (Creighton University, the University of South Alabama and at the University of Texas).  He has consulted with Boys Town National Research Hospital on complex intellectual property matters since 1993.

Today, Gary is the Executive Director of the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.  The University of Manitoba is the Province’s leading comprehensive, research-intensive academic institution and has an enrollment of more than 27,000.  

G. Steven Burrill, Chief Executive Officer of Burrill & Company (USA)

G. Steven Burrill has been involved in the growth and prosperity of the biotechnology industry for over 40 years. Mr. Burrill is one of the original architects of the industry and one of its most avid and sustained developers. He serves as Chairman of the Boards of Pharmasset, BioImagene and Abunda Corporation, and is a member of the Boards of Directors of Catalyst Biosciences, DepoMed, Ikano Therapeutics, NewBridge, ProteoGenix, Proventys, Targacept and XDx. Before founding Burrill & Company in 1994, he spent 28 years with Ernst & Young, directing services to clients in the biotechnology/life sciences/high technology/manufacturing industries worldwide. In 2002, Mr. Burrill was recognized as the biotech investment visionary by the Scientific American magazine (The Scientific American 50).

Mr. Burrill is a founder and Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology. He serves as Chairman of the San Francisco Mayor’s Biotech Advisory Committee (MayBAC). He serves on the Boards of the Bay Area Science Infrastructure Consortium, BayBio (Emeritus), California Healthcare Institute (Emeritus), The Exploratorium (Emeritus), The Kellogg Center for Biotechnology, the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, and the National Health Museum (Vice Chairman). He also serves on the Purdue Discovery Park External Advisory Committee and on the editorial board of the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology and is on the advisory board of the Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies (C-PET). He is an advisor to the University of Illinois Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Wisconsin - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences, Duke University, and is an adjunct professor at University of California, San Francisco.

Emmanuel Chantelot, Executive Director, European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE)

Emmanuel Chantelot is the Executive Director of European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE), a trade association of 63 biopharmaceutical companies of all sizes operating in Europe. As the voice of biopharmaceuticals in Europe, EBE interacts with the European institutions and other stakeholders on healthcare policies and issues relevant to biotechnology-derived medicines. EBE also operates as the biotechnology arm of EFPIA, the European pharmaceutical industry federation.

Before joining EBE in June 2006, Emmanuel occupied senior management positions in global and European trade associations in the energy, metals and mining sectors. He was the Managing Director of the World LP Gas Association in Paris (1997-2004) and Manager at Eurometaux in Brussels (1992-1997). He was also General Manager of AGS, an international professional services firm, from 2004 to 2006.

In short, Emmanuel has got 18 years experience in policy advocacy, communications, business strategy management and business interests representation towards the European Institutions, several UN agencies, the World Bank and numerous national governments worldwide.

Emmanuel graduated with Masters degrees in molecular biology in 1991 and chemical industry management / biotechnology in 1992 from the Free University of Brussels. He also received business management education at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, in Chicago.

Nicholas Dunster, Senior Business Analyst, Wellcome Trust (UK)

Nick joined the Trust in 2005 and is responsible for contract negotiations, due diligence and IP issues. He monitors existing investments in drug discovery, vaccine trials, medical devices and platform technologies, and holds two Board Observer positions. He obtained a first degree in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, a PhD from Cambridge and has six years' experience in the biotech industry with focus on cancer, immunology and anti-infective preclinical drug discovery.

Per-Ove Engelbrecht, Head of Unit “Financing Innovation and SMEs”, Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry, European Commission

Per-Ove Engelbrecht is Head of the Unit “Financing Innovation and SMEs” since 1 January 2008. In the Commission he has previously led units responsible for the automotive industry, forest-based industry and cooperatives and mutual societies. In the period 1986-1998 he was Director of the Enterprise Division at the Swedish Ministry of Industry. On behalf of the Swedish Government he set up the ALMI Group which is focussed on SME financing and consultancy. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Swedish Industrial Credit Bank (1990-1996) and of the Bure Investment plc (1992-1998).

James Eshelby, Senior Director Business and Development, Pfizer (UK)

James Eshelby, PhD worked for Zeneca for eight years before he joined Pfizer in 1997 as a Medicinal Chemistry Group Leader and has been an inventor on nine patents. In 2001 James joined Pfizer’s Business Development group where he has identified, negotiated and managed a diverse range of license and collaboration deals with biotechs, universities and corporations. In this role James sits on several major alliance steering committees. James is located in Pfizer’s Sandwich facility in the UK from where he leads a global team of WWBD colleagues supporting Pfizer’s PTx Pharm Sci; PDM and DSRD organizations.

John Hodgson, Senior Editor, Nature Biotechnology (UK)

John Hodgson is a consultant with Critical I Limited, providing data and analysis of the biotechnology industry in Europe and the USA to government bodies in the UK, The Netherlands, Australia, and elsewhere as well as to the European Commission. John has also been involved in assessing technology transfer activities, writing business plans to enable companies to raise capital, advising the research directorate of the European Commission on its policies with respect to SMEs, and the UK Parliamentary Industry Committee in its investigation of the UK biotechnology industry.

He is also a life sciences writer, formerly European Editor and now Editor-at-Large of Nature Biotechnology. He is involved more widely as an advisor with the Nature organisation, most recently and specifically as Chair of the Nature SciCafe, a networking forum for academic researchers and investors.

Andre Hoekema, Senior VP Corporate Development, Galapagos (UK)

Andre Hoekema oversees M&A and licensing/IP at Galapagos. He joined the company in March 2005 from Invitrogen Corporation, where he was Managing Director of Corporate Development Europe. He has 25 years of biotech experience from positions at Molecular Probes Europe (Managing Director), Crucell (Director of IP/Business Development), DSM Life Sciences and Genentech, Inc (R&D). He has a PhD degree from Leiden University.

Manfred Horst, MD, PhD, MBA, Director, Licensing & External Research Europe, Merck & Co (Germany)

Dr. Manfred Horst studied medicine in Munich, Montpellier and London and specialised in Allergic Diseases at the University Clinic in Montpellier, where he also completed his PhD.

After earning his MBA at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, Manfred spent 7 years with Ciba-Geigy and Novartis, Basel, 2 years in the health insurance business with an affiliate of Allianz and Munich Re, and now 10 years with Merck & Co./MSD.

Since 2004, Manfred has been in his current function as Director Licensing & External Research Europe, where he scouts for Licensing opportunities in a number of European countries.

Jacqueline Hunter, Pharmivation Limited, CEO (UK)

Dr Jackie Hunter has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years and in 2002 she was appointed SVP and Head of the Neurology and Gastrointestinal Centre of Excellence (CEDD) for GlaxoSmithkline. The CEDD was focused on the development of new therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders, pain and gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and delivered 17 clinical proofs of concept across these therapeutic areas.

In 2008 she became Head of Science Environment Development where she was responsible for developing an R&D strategy for precompetitive research and working with external scientific partners. She established GSK as a leader in pharmaceutical open innovation and led the creation of the world’s first ‘open innovation’ campus for the pharmaceutical industry in Stevenage UK. She also played a leading role in the establishment of the Innovative Medicines Initiative in Europe and chaired the EFPIA Research Directors Group. In 2010 she left GSK forming Pharmivation Ltd, to concentrate on open innovation in bioscience. Jackie is also non-executive director of Proximagen Neuroscience. She was one of 2010’s Women of Outstanding Achievement in Science, Engineering and Technology for her contribution to innovation and entrepreneurship and received the CBE. in July 2010 for her services to the pharmaceutical industry.

Robert Kirschbaum, VP Open Innovation of DSM (Netherlands)

Mr. Robert Kirschbaum (58) graduated from the Technical University of Delft (The Netherlands) as a Chemical Engineer in 1977. His career with DSM consists of more than 30 years fostering various innovations (fibers like Dyneema, films and plastics like Stanyl) up to full commercialization.

From 1997, Rob was in charge of the DSM New Business Development Corporation. In this Corporate “Incubator” several early phase commercial activities and new ventures were combined to grow into sustainable businesses. In 2006 the NBD Corporation was integrated into the DSM Innovation Center.

Untill 2009 he fullfilled the role of Vice President Innovation , focussing on the DSM cluster of Performance Materials. Recently he was assigned as VP Open Innovation of DSM. In May 2010 he received the prestigious Giulio Natta Award.

Rob is married , has 3 kids and likes to play tennis as well as indoor soccer.

Kostantinos Kaloulis, Merck Serono, Associate Director Early Stage Licensing (CH)

Kostas Kaloulis is associate director with the Early Stage Licensing at Merck Serono.
Since he joined Merck Serono, Kostas has been responsible for the negotiation/deal making of some key partnerships.

Kostas has acquired a profound experience in Technology Transfer from and towards industry while serving as a Licensing officer in the Technology Transfer Offices of major Swiss Academic Institutes, before joining Merck Serono.
Before that he has worked as a preclinical development director for a biotech company (Apoxis) in the field of oncology and was a founder of 2 start ups in the Lake Geneva area in the fields of Neurosciences and Genetics.
He has obtained his Ph.D in molecular embryology from the University of Geneva and acquired a wide experience in fields such as Oncology, Cancer stem cells and Mouse Genetics during his research activities at the Swiss Institute of Cancer research.

Gerald Law, co-founder, UK Innovation Forum (UKIF) – (UK)

Gerald Law grew up in London, where his family owned a small engineering firm, with which he was involved from his school days onwards. He studied as an undergraduate at Oxford, before working for a French bank making loans to small businesses. He returned to Oxford and won a number of awards en route to his doctorate, before joining a leading international Management Consulting firm.

Believing that the most important aspect of all businesses is their people, he then joined a leading UK Executive Search firm and, during the same period, studied at London Business School. He has since been involved in a number of start up companies, has served on the board of a people and change consultancy and run his own search firm, which he sold early in 2009.

Together with Ian Tracey of STFC Innovations, Gerald established the UK Innovation Forum in 2009 to serve the needs of the business community needing access to UK research institutes' technology and to help the research bodies to commercialise their IP. With over 40 institutions and bodies having joined the Forum in the first 9 months, it is already by far the largest single access point for innovative technology coming out of UK institutions. And with more institutions joining each month, it looks to continue to grow for some time to come.

Gerald is married and has a young son. In his spare time he enjoys golf and reading.

Dr. Ludo F. Lauwers, Senior Vice President Janssen Pharmaceutica and Beerse Site Manager Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceuticals R&D (Belgium)

Ludo Lauwers, M.D. is Senior Vice President, Beerse R&D Site Manager for Janssen Research and Development and chairs the Beerse R&D Senior Leadership Team. He is Vice-Chairman of the Management Board of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and Chairman of the Board of Janssen-Cilag International NV. Dr Lauwers leads the Office for Strategy and Growth for the Janssen Campus focusing on establishing innovation networks, precompetitive collaborations and open innovation.

He joined Janssen Pharmaceutica, Belgium as Medical Director in 1993, and later served as Director of Clinical Development, Internal Medicine; Senior Director, Internal Medicine, International Clinical R&D and Vice President Gastroenterology & Antifungals for the Janssen Research Foundation (JRF). Ludo was appointed Beerse Site Manager for J&J Pharmaceutical R&D in July 2000 and later in October 2001 Vice President, Global Head, Postmarketing Medical Evaluation. In 2004 he became Global Head of the drug safety and pharmacovigilance organization for J&J, Benefit Risk Management (BRM) and chair of the Safety Council. His previous positions include Medical Director, Upjohn Benelux, and Associate Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Director of the ICU and Emergency Medical Services at the Stuivenberg General Hospital in Antwerp.
Dr. Lauwers earned his medical degree (MD) from the University of Leuven (1977) and specialized in Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine (1981). He holds the European Diploma of Intensive Care Medicine (EDIC).

Bertrand Loubaton, Director Pharmaceutical and Academic Research Europe, General Electric Healthcare (France)

He has 20 years experience in Drugs & Medical Technologies in both R&D and marketing.
His current responsibility in GE Healthcare involves collaboration between academia and industry, for new technologies & biomarkers development. He’s jointed GE Healthcare in 2005 as European Director Sales/Marketing & Business Development of IMANET a PET research Network of Academic Sites.

Previously:
He was Business Development Director at SMV (Gamma Camera), Director of Operations/France Executive Director and Co-founder of the First European clinical sites network (SMO), Marketing/Sales Director of IBAH (Clinical Research Organization; & Product Manager at 3M Pharma & Roussel-Uclaf group.

Alain Maiore, Managing Partner, Kurma Biofund (France)

Holding a Degree from Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture d’Angers and Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Toulouse, Alain Maiore worked as a business manager in several international companies before co-founding a start-up and leading biotech investment teams.

Today, as a managing partner of Kurma Biofund, a dedicated venture capital fund focused on a new generation of biotechnology financing, he will share his views on the financial and fiscal ecosystem needed for early-stage biotechs.

Laurent Miéville, Director of Unitec, Geneva University, Immediate Past President of ASTP (Switzerland)

After graduating in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Laurent Miéville completed a Ph.D. at the University of Geneva where he studied the growth and the properties of superconducting thin films and multilayers. He spent the next three years in the US, first at Stanford University as group leader, and then at a young start-up company, Conductus, where he was involved in the realization of electronic superconducting devices for medical imagery and telecommunications. Parallel to these activities, he was a scientific consultant in the evaluation of the commercial potential of new technologies for Glenwood partners, a capital venture firm.

In October 1998, he founded Unitec, the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Geneva, and heads the office. He is immediate past president of the European Association of Science and Technology Transfer Professionnals (ASTP) and co-founder of the Swiss Technology Transfer association (SWITT) as well as member of the American association of University Technology Transfer managers (AUTM) and the Licensing executive society (LES). He is also one the first technology transfer professionals to be certified at the international level as "Certified Licensing Professional".

Edwin Moses, CEO and Chairman of the Board – Ablynx NV (Germany)

After completing his post-doctoral research in Germany, Edwin began a commercial career with successful periods spent at Amersham International, Enzymatix and Raggio-Italgene. From 1993-2001, first as CEO and later as Chairman, he was responsible for the growth of Oxford Asymmetry (OAI) through a series of venture rounds cumulating in a flotation (LSE) in 1998 at a value of £120 million. This was followed by a sale of the company to Evotec Biosystems in 2000 for £316 million. During this period, OAI grew from four people to over 250. Over the past eight years, Edwin has played an important role at Board level (primarily as Chairman) in over 15 European life science companies. During this time he has been involved in a number of financing rounds, a series of M&A transactions and four IPOs and one SPO.
Edwin has been Chairman of Ablynx since 2004, and in 2006 he accepted the offer by Ablynx’s Board of Directors to extend his role as Chairman to include that of Chief Executive Officer. Apart from and in addition to his duties as CEO and Chairman of the Company, Edwin Moses is the Chairman of Lectus Therapeutics Ltd. (UK), a member of the Board of Directors of the European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises and it is anticipated that he will become the Chairman of the Board of Capricorn Health-tech Fund (Belgium).

Furthermore, in the past five years, in addition to Ablynx, he has held Board memberships with the following companies: Clinphone Group plc (UK), Fusion IP plc (formerly Biofusion plc) (UK), Phoqus Pharmaceuticals Ltd (UK), Pharmaceutical Profiles Ltd (UK), Proimmune Ltd (UK), Paradigm Therapeutics Ltd (UK), Avantium Technologies (the Netherlands), Ionix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (UK), Evotec OAI AG (Germany), Bioimage A/S (Denmark), Inpharmatica Ltd (UK), Prolysis Ltd (UK) and ProPharma Ltd (UK).

Joseph Nathan, Director of New Ventures, Life Sciences & Medical, University Technion T3 (Israel)

Joseph Nathan rejoined T3 in 2010, his responsibilities include accelerating and supporting selected mature projects and newly established companies by taking an active/hands-on approach in the commercial value creation, provide guidance and lead the business structure, and the financing model, with the goal of securing capital investments.

Prior to the Technion, Mr. Nathan served as Vice President of Business Development at Medi-Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he was based in London, and led the partnering strategy and execution in the European market, forming alliances with pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to advance Medi’s targeted therapeutics candidates through the clinic. In early 2006, Mr. Nathan joined the Technion Technology Transfer Office as Director of Business Development where he was responsible for managing all aspects of technology and IP commercialization for the life science sector, comprising therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and biotechnology. Prior to the Technion TTO, Mr. Nathan gained research experience by completing research projects at the Neuroscience department of the Weizmann Institute and the Biotechnology faculty at the Technion.

Mr. Nathan holds a B.Sc in Biotechnology Engineering, graduated with magna cum laude honors, and an M.Sc in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management both from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Samuel Ogunsalu, Principal Executive, Commercial Development - Queen Mary Innovation Limited (UK)

Samuel has a background in Microbiology and Biochemical Engineering and has experience both as a research scientist, and a pilot plant engineer, as well as significant experience in technology Licensing and international business development. Samuel is also an experienced technology business advisor and has advised private and Aim listed companies in the UK as well small cap US listed companies.

At present, Samuel has a key role in out-licensing early and mid stage technology as well as developing new start-up companies and working with the existing start-up portfolio to find solutions and models for sustainability and growth in the current economic climate. Samuel is also Head of Commercialisation and Sector Specialist for Life Sciences for the Knowledge East Partnership, a business-focused network of eight universities and colleges in East London and the Thames Gateway, whose remit is to work with SME companies and help to develop new products and solve problems by devising tailor-made research and consultancy solutions. It also links businesses with academic experts whose skills will benefit these companies, businesses and organisations; it’s partners also collaborate on a range of joint initiatives, turning the latest research and ideas into practical support that benefits organisations of every size and sector.

Rupert Osborn, PhD, CEO, IP Pragmatics Ltd (UK)

Dr Rupert Osborn has worked in the field of technology commercialisation since 1996. His specific areas of expertise are transaction support (particularly licensing strategy and negotiation) and innovation management and strategy. He helps organisations embrace open innovation through strategic intellectual property advice, training and hands-on deal making support. His experience covers the commercialisation of different forms of intellectual property including trademark, copyright and patent licensing. He has particular expertise in the Agricultural Biotechnology sector having gained industry experience with Zeneca Agrochemicals (now Syngenta) prior to founding IP Pragmatics in 2004. Rupert has an MA from Cambridge University and a PhD from Warwick University.

Kari Paukkeri, Chief Executive Officer, Licentia Ltd. (Finland)

Kari Paukkeri holds M.Sc. in Economics and Industrial Engineering from Tampere University of Technology. Mr. Paukkeri has held various key managerial positions with Nokia and the American Teledesic Corporation in Finland and in the USA. In addition he has worked as President European operations for American Conversay, Inc. in the Netherlands. Prior to Licentia he served as President and CEO of Oy Jurilab Ltd, a Finnish genetics company, since the year 2001. As CEO of  Jurilab Mr. Paukkeri successfully raised more than 15 million euros of funding and negotiated several multi million euro commercial agreements with US and European based public companies.

During his career, Mr. Paukkeri has been employed in the commercialization of new technologies and standards, the development of global business and heading of profit centres.
His affiliations include board chairmanship of the Finnish Bioindustries industry association and steering group membership of Tekes’ new Pharma - Building Competitive Edge program.

Matthias Stein-Gerlach, Patent and Licensing Manager, Max Planck Innovation (DE)

Dr. Matthias Stein-Gerlach is the initiator and project leader at Max-Planck Innovation for the Drug Discovery & Development Centre of the Max-Planck Society. He is co-founder of Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG, Munich, and U3 Pharmaceuticals AG, Martinsried. After heading his own research group at Axxima, starting 1998, he became Director Business Development in 2001 and was appointed VP Business Development in 2002. In 2004 he joined Max-Planck Innovation as Patent & Licensing Manager.

He earned his PhD in 1998 in the lab of Dr. Axel Ullrich of Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried. In addition, Matthias Stein-Gerlach has completed a 3 year education in finance and administration.

Ashley J. Stevens, President of the AUTM (USA)

In 2010, Dr. Stevens became Special Assistant to the VP of Research at Boston University, where he has been tasked with exploring the faculty’s interest in launching a university-wide academic program focused on the role of intellectual property and the evolution of models for the translation of ideas and knowledge into economic development. Previously, he spent 15 years as Director and then Executive Director, Technology Transfer in the Office of Technology Development at Boston University.

He is also Senior Research Associate in the Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization in Boston University’s School of Management, where he teaches two graduate-level, inter-disciplinary courses on Technology Commercialization. Before joining Boston University, he was Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.

Since he joined Boston University, the Office of Technology Development has spun out over 50 companies based on the University’s research, a number of which have raised substantial amounts of capital, and the University’s licensing income climbed steadily.

Prior to entering the technology transfer profession, Dr. Stevens worked in the biotechnology industry for nearly ten years. He was a co-founder of Kytogenics, Inc., of which he is still a Director, was co-founder and General Manager of Genmap, Inc., and was Vice President of Business Development for BioTechnica International. He started his career with The Procter & Gamble Company, where he held a number of positions in sales, marketing, strategic planning and acquisitions.

Dr. Stevens publishes and lectures frequently on many aspects of technology transfer, including the Bayh-Dole Act, the economic impact of technology transfer and its role in economic development, the contribution of academia to the discovery of new drugs and vaccines, the role of technology transfer in global health and technology valuation. He was the recipient of the Bayh-Dole Award at Association of University Technology Managers 2007 Annual Meeting and became President of AUTM in March 2010. He is also active in the Licensing Executives Society and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Dr. Stevens holds a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences, a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University. He is a Certified Licensing Professional.

Patrice Talaga, Director Chemistry Outsourcing, UCB (Belgium)

Patrice got a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1989, at the University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France (area of interest: synthesis & biological testing of allergen-(non)peptide conjugates for the treatment of Contact Dermatitis).

He then obtained a post-doc position at Hoechst AG (now part of Sanofi-Aventis) 1989-1991, Frankfurt, Germany (areas of interest: synthesis of LH-RH antagonists, RGD peptidomimetics. Practice of liquid/solid phase peptide synthesis, non-natural amino acids synthesis). He also obtained a master degree in Drug Design/Molecular Pharmacology in 1995 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille & Lille II University, France. He joined UCB in 1991.

He has  more than 19 years of experience in Pharmaceutical Industry and started at UCB as a medicinal chemist & research projects manager within the fields of immuno-allergy and CNS related therapeutic areas.

He is presently Director Chemistry Outsourcing for the UK and Belgian Research sites and also manages the Chemistry Incentives team. He is also taking an active part in the implementation of Open Innovation type of partnerships within UCB.

Nicki Thompson, Director Scientific Opportunities and Head of the GSK’s European Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) – UK

Nicki Thompson joined the GSK ceedd (Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery) in January 2010 as Director, Scientific Opportunities and is responsible for sourcing new alliances for the European ceedd. Prior to joining the ceedd, Dr. Thompson was Head of Discovery at Syntaxin (a U.K. based Biotech company), responsible for delivery of novel biopharmaceuticals in the areas of neurological, inflammatory and endocrine diseases through to Development. Dr. Thompson joined Syntaxin from GSK, where she worked in a variety of drug discovery roles with increasing responsibility from target identification through to candidate selection over a 20 year period. At GSK, Dr. Thompson was based in the Respiratory CEDD, where as head of the Allergic Mechanisms group, she lead a number of drug discovery programs and external alliances, focusing on allergic and inflammatory processes.

The ceedd
In order to access the best in the world innovation GSK established a small semi-autonomous scientific investment team of about 25 people in 2005 - the Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery, the ceedd. The ceedd considers itself a pioneer in the quest to find new medicines, going to great lengths to actively seek out and collaborate with world-class biotechnology companies. The ceedd was the first team in GSK R&D to be truly externally focused with no internal programs to manage, working across all therapy areas, tasked to form multi-program, risk reward sharing alliances. We thrive on the excitement of discovering innovative scientific platforms and compounds through our collaborations and nurturing them to their full potential to provide the world with differentiated medicines that will deliver significant benefits to patients.

Pascal Touchon, Director, Scientific Cooperation & Business Development, Les Laboratoires Servier (France)

25 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry in Research, Marketing and Sales, General Management and Business Development.
Extensive international experience in managing commercial operations in France, Central & Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, South Africa.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine / DESS in Management / MBA INSEAD.

Jacques Warcoin, Cabinet Regimbeau, Senior Partner (France)

Chemistry - Biology
European Patent Attorney; European Trademark and Design Attorney
French Patent Attorney; French Trademark Attorney

Jacques WARCOIN has been a partner of Cabinet REGIMBEAU since 1983.
He has been very closely involved with the development of the biotechnology sector since its inception (1979) and has become a leader in this field. He is highly experienced in litigation relating to chemistry, biology, and pharmaceutical products.

Jacques WARCOIN is a worldwide recognized expert and regularly speaks at conferences and seminars on the issues of patentability and IP strategy in life sciences.

He has a well-earned reputation in defining development and licensing strategies for pharmaceutical companies, especially consortium agreements and patent pools.

As a European Patent Attorney before the European Patent Office (EPO), he undertakes oppositions and appeals on behalf of private companies and public organizations in France, USA, and Japan, and is also an expert in “due diligence”.

Mark Wilson, Director, Collaboration Management Europe, GSK and President of the LES Britain and Ireland (UK).

Mark Wilson is Director, Collaboration Management, Europe for the Pharmaceutical Development division of GlaxoSmithKline. He has worked for GSK in a licensing and alliance management role for the last ten years and has negotiated and managed hundreds of development collaborations relating to formulation, processing, drug delivery and pharmaceutical technologies. His work for the last few years has focussed on technology strategy and corporate venturing activity. He holds a master's degree and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Leeds, and an MBA from Columbia University and London Business School.

You are a recognized professional from the biotechnology area, the pharmaceutical industry or the academia?
You are willing to share your experience to contribute to the development of technology transfer and collaborative projects in the life science sector? Do not hesitate to join our team of speakers.