BIO Deutschland Holds its Tenth General Assembly - Biotechnology Sector Association Elects a New Board

Hanover (8 October 2013) – The sector association of the biotechnology industry, BIO Deutschland, elected a new board for the next two years yesterday afternoon during its tenth ordinary general assembly, which was held in Hanover ahead of the leading biotech trade fair, BIOTECHNICA.

The ten members of BIO Deutschland’s board represent various segments of innovative small and medium-sized biotechnology enterprises, industry and the BioRegions. The following members were re-elected:

  • Dr Peter Heinrich, Managing Director of ph Biotech-Consulting, Planegg
  • Prof. Andre Koltermann, Senior Vice President and Head of Biotech & Renewables Centre at Clariant Produkte (Deutschland) GmbH, Munich
  • Norbert Hentschel, CFO/Managing Director of Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, Bergisch-Gladbach
  • Peter Pohl, CEO of GATC Biotech AG, Konstanz
  • Roland Sackers, CFO and Managing Director of QIAGEN N.V., Hilden
  • Dr Christian Schetter, Managing Director of Fresenius Biotech GmbH, Munich
  • Dr Jan Schmidt-Brand, CEO of Heidelberg Pharma AG, Ladenburg and CFO of WILEX AG, Munich
  • Dr Rainer Wessel, Director of the Cluster für Individualisierte Immunintervention (CI3) e. V., Mainz

The following members were newly elected to the board:

  • Oliver Schacht, PhD, CEO of Curetis AG, Holzgerlingen
  • Dr Sylvia Wojczewski, Managing Director of BioSpring GmbH, Frankfurt am Main

The board unanimously re-elected Peter Heinrich as its chairman directly after the general assembly. Oliver Schacht was appointed treasurer. “Despite facing difficult conditions, the biotechnology sector has grown constantly in the years since the financial crisis started,” Heinrich said during the general assembly. “Unfortunately, politicians did not keep their promises to support innovative small and medium-sized enterprises during the last legislative term. We will be urging the new government to make progress on the important topic of innovation funding. A strong sector association such as BIO Deutschland is more important than ever as regards giving innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany a strong voice,” he added. “Biotechnology plays an important role in many major parts of society, including food, energy and health. This is also reflected in the main topics at this year’s BIOTECHNICA. Biotechnology has great potential to facilitate transformation into a sustainable society through innovations. This is why BIO Deutschland will continue to lobby for better conditions for innovative small and medium-sized biotech enterprises,” Heinrich continued.

During the general assembly, BIO Deutschland’s management presented a comprehensive report on its activities. Representatives of the association’s eleven working groups gave presentations on the groups’ work. Their analysis of the main topics of the past and future revealed that the sector association will continue to face many significant challenges as regards financing and taxation, legal conditions, patent protection and reimbursement.

Go back