November 2012

BIO Deutschland Holds Its Ninth General Assembly in Berlin

Jörg Michael Hollidt, CEO of in.vent Diagnostica GmbH (left), with Peter Heinrich, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland (right).
Jörg Michael Hollidt, CEO of in.vent Diagnostica GmbH (left), with Peter Heinrich, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland (right).

BIO Deutschland recently welcomed its 300th member, in.vent Diagnostica GmbH, at its ninth general assembly. The association thus reinforced its position as the national and international lobby group for the biotechnology industry. Thirty-four new members joined BIO Deutschland in the last 12 months.

“We are pleased about the positive developments at BIO Deutschland. Today we can celebrate a further milestone in the association’s history by welcoming our 300th member,” said Peter Heinrich, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland. “When BIO Deutschland was founded eight years ago, probably no one thought that it would become Europe’s largest biotech sector association,” he added. Viola Bronsema, Managing Director of BIO Deutschland, said: “This constant growth shows that we are on the right path in   choosing to focus our activities on lobbying on behalf of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises.”

During the general assembly, the board and management reported on their work. The chairpersons of the association’s ten working groups gave presentations on their activities to date and on the groups’ plans for the future.

In addition, a representative of the Nationale Kontakstelle Lebenswissenschaften, Germany’s central advisory body for the life sciences on the European Research Programme, gave a presentation on the EU’s new research framework programme, Horizon 2020. The presentation focused on the opportunities for small and medium-sized biotech enterprises to participate in this programme.

After the presentations, the association members who had travelled to Berlin had the chance to meet and talk over a sandwich while the board met for the third time this year to discuss the development of the association so far and the next steps for the future.

Members will receive a copy of the minutes of the general assembly in the coming weeks.

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