BIO Deutschland becomes a member of the Federation of German Industries (BDI)

The Executive Board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) passed an official resolution admitting Biotechnologie Industrie Deutschland (BIO Deutschland) e. V. to the BDI, effective 1 January 2017. In the view of the national industry federation, BIO Deutschland, which was founded in September 2004, represents the interests of the German biotechnology sector in national and international policymaking and cooperates with other national and international biotechnology interest groups. According to the reasons cited for the decision, the admission of BIO Deutschland will sensibly complement BDI’s overarching positions on innovation and technology and further increase the effectiveness of BDI’s policy arguments. The BDI was initially founded as the Committee for Economic Issues of the Industrial Associations on 19 October 1949 and has operated as the Federation of German Industries since early 1950. It currently has 37 member associations. On 1 January 2017, Dieter Kempf will take over the mantle of BDI president from Ulrich Grillo, whose term ends on 31 December 2016. Dieter Kempf served from 2011 to 2015 as president of the BDI member association Bitkom (Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media). The BDI also announced that the general assembly appointed Joachim Lang as the federation’s new director general, effective 1 April 2017. He succeeds Markus Kerber, who is scheduled to step down on 31 March 2017, and already joined the BDI’s Executive Board on 1 December 2016. BIO Deutschland is very much looking forward to working together with the BDI.