In this series “Meet the people behind Biotech Booster” we introduce you to the passionate people who are involved in our mission.
A big part of our team consists of Biotech Booster business- and impact developers. They operate on a national level within five distinct Thematic Clusters (TC’s) that each represent specific biotech focus areas. Our business- and impact developers collaborate nationally on a daily basis to identify early-stage high-potential biotechnology findings. They guide scientists and aspiring entrepreneurs in their journey to transform their ideas into successful biotech businesses so that biotechnology findings have more and a faster positive impact on society.
Name
Bob Ignacio
What is your role within Biotech Booster?
I am an Impact Developer for Biotech Booster at HAN University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen). I focus on Industrial Biotechnology & Production with my fellow Impact and Business Developers of Thematic Cluster 1.
Can you describe your role in a nutshell?
As an Impact Developer, I scout for promising biotechnology research projects at small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and other knowledge institutes in the region and nationally, as well as at my host institute, the HAN.
At the HAN BioCentre, for instance, researchers work on several projects concerning biobased production (raw) materials to replace petrochemical processes, often in close collaboration with regional and national SMEs. Besides scouting, I provide support for research projects in the Biotech Booster program and beyond, for instance by refining the business case or finding additional sources of funding.
What motivated you to join Biotech Booster’s mission?
I believe that stopping and reversing climate change is the most important challenge we are facing as a society today. Biotechnological innovation holds great promise for transforming current industrial processes into sustainable ones, which is an essential step in reducing CO2 emissions. Biotech Booster believes in putting the brightest researchers to work, together with seasoned entrepreneurs and business/impact developers to create actual innovations that contribute to a better/greener world, and I’m happy I can contribute to that!
What do you love most about your role? Pick one thing!
What I love most is being exposed to so much great science, done by highly motivated scientists fighting the good fight of transitioning to a sustainable world. I have the privilege of helping them transform their promising research into real-world innovations. As a close second, I would choose the outstanding assortment of delicious teas at the Biotech Booster office in Utrecht.
You recently joined the team. What are your ambitions and what do you hope to achieve in the coming years?
Indeed, I joined the team recently! In the coming years, I hope to build many solid business cases with biotech researchers in The Netherlands. Ideally, we would see several of these projects grow to new start-up companies (or new divisions within existing companies) that bring exciting new biobased products to the market. Coming from a University of Applied Sciences (UaS), I also hope to establish a framework for knowledge transfer and impact development, as this is not as well established at the HAN/UaS as at many universities. It’s great that there are many other UaS in the Biotech Booster program that we can learn from and share experiences with.
If you had a few million to invest in biotech, what type of company would you start yourself, or in which company would you invest and why?
I would start or invest in a company that champions carbon-capture technology, as I believe that we will not solve the climate crisis by reducing emissions alone. An example could be a company that engineers crop strains to optimize their photosynthesis efficiency, increasing crop yields and CO2 reduction at the same time.
If you could have dinner with any scientist, living or dead, who would it be, what would you ask them and why?
Just last week, as I was cutting many onions while cooking and found myself crying incessantly, I wondered whether it is possible to engineer onions so they lose their lachrymatory effect while retaining their flavor. So, I would have dinner with Prof. Hidehiko Kumagai, winner of the Ig Nobel prize in 2013 for elucidating the molecular mechanism through which onions make people cry, to ask him if I will ever cut onions without crying.
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