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“The adventure of creating a startup from the CSIC” – Xartec Salut Formation
November 3, 2022 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm
In January 2003 we got the approval of the Council of Ministers to create the first “sociedad limitada” in which the CSIC was a partner. The company was called Biopolis and focused on offering R&D services for the Spanish agri-food industry (technically a CRO).
After two years we were already generating profits and after four years we reinvested all the profits generated in founding Lifesequencing SL, the first Spanish massive genome company. In this adventure we were accompanied by Secugen SL, another CSIC spin-off. In the following years we expanded our capabilities in genomics, microbial physiology, animal models and scale-up and industrial production while increasing our customers in the European Union and LATAM until 2016, when we reached a staff of 45 professionals with a turnover of almost 4 million euros. It was then when we decided to offer a part of the shareholding for the entry of a new partner to help us grow in North America and APAC.
Then Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) arrived and acquired 90% of the shares. Since then we have been part of this large multinational agri-food company. They bought most of ADM’s shares because we were a company that developed ingredients using high-quality science as the driving force and that is what we continue to do.
Throughout this conference I will explain this journey and how my personal and professional life has changed over these twenty years.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
He has a degree and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Valencia. He did his PhD working at the Department of Molecular Genetics of the pharmaceutical company Antibioticos S.A. He carried out post-doctoral stays in the Wageningen University of Agriculture (The Netherlands).
He was Professor of Food Technology at the University of Valencia and Research Professor at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA) of the CSIC. He is currently on leave of absence from both academic responsibilities. In 2003 he founded the biotechnology company Biopolis S.L. specialized in microbial biotechnology and in 2008 the company Lifesequencing S.L. specialized in massive genome sequencing. Both companies were acquired in 2017 by the US multinational company Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM).
He is currently Distinguished Research Fellow Microbiome at ADM and is the scientific director of the microbiome platform of this company. His technological results are protected by thirty patent families covering more than four hundred national and international patents, most of them transferred and in use. He has published more than 160 articles in prestigious international journals indexed in the Science Citation Index. He has been awarded the Prize of the Spanish Society of Microbiology, the Prize for Scientific Trajectory of the Danone Institute, the European Prize for Scientific Dissemination, the Juan de la Cierva National Research Prize, the International Hippocrates Prize, the Medal for Innovation of the García Cabrerizo Foundation and the International Nutrachampion Prize.
He is Full Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain.
He belongs to the Governing Council of the Spanish National Research Council.
Join here the formative session
