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Marco Baggiolini, University of Lugano
He studied medicine at the University of Basel, where he graduated in 1962. He worked 1963-1967 as assistant in biochemistry at the University of Bern, and 1967-1970 as research associate at the Rockefeller University, New York, in the laboratory of Christian de Duve, Nobel laureate in 1974. Here, he began his studies on the biochemistry and function of leukocytes.
He worked in research and development at Sandoz Ltd, Basel, was Deputy Head of Pharmacology and Toxicology (1977-1979), and Head of the Division of Inflamma-tion and Immunology (1979-1983).
He was Director of the Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern (1983-2001) and member of the Faculties of medicine and natural sciences.
In 1987, his group discovered a new class of proteins, termed chemokines, which activate leukocytes and lymphocytes and regulate their migration in tissues and body fluids. In a decade, chemokine research in many laboratories led to the identification of about 50 different human chemokines and 20 cellular receptors that mediate their activities, clarifying the principles of leukocyte traffic in health and disease.
He was President of the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI, University of Lugano) from 1996 through 2006, headed several projects for USI’s development, and was involved in additional academic activities as:
- Head of Division IV of the National Science Foundation with the responsibility of establishing the first 14 National Centres of Competence in Research;
- Editor, Editorial or Advisory Board member of major scientific journals in the US and Europe, and member of several Research Foundations;
- Member of the Peer review team for the University of Zurich Rectorate (2005);
- Member of the ETH Domain Peer review team in 2006;
- Head of the team evaluating the national Office of accreditation, OAQ, (2006);
- Head of the Project for the study of the collaboration between the Universities of Bern and Fribourg in the areas of natural sciences and medicine (2006);
- Acting Director of CSCS, the Swiss national supercomputing centre (2007-2008);
- President of Tecnopolo Lugano, Board member of BSI Healthcapital (since 2008).
Has authored about 300 publications in peer reviewed journals and was among the 50 most cited scientists worldwide for immunology and the five most cited Swiss scientists in the period 1992-2002.
Has received the award of the US Society for Leukocyte Biology, the Balli and Görlich prizes, the Emil von Behring Award, the Robert Koch Medal, the Lavezzari award and several other honours.
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Gary Pisano, Harvard Business School
Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Since joining the Harvard faculty in 1988, he has taught both MBA and executive level courses on technology and operations management, operations strategy, competitive strategy, product development, the management of innovation, and health care. He currently serves as chair of the Technology and Operations Management Unit.
Professor Pisano’s research has examined technology strategy, the management of product and process development, organizational learning, and vertical integration and outsourcing strategies. For the past 20 years, Pisano’s research has also focused on strategy, R&D, and competition in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. His research has led to insights about appropriate licensing, manufacturing, and R&D strategies for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Pisano is a widely published author with over 25 research papers published in such journals as Management Science, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Harvard Business Review. He has also written case studies on such companies as BMW, ITT-Automotive, Intel, Merck, Eli Lilly, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
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fessor Pisano has served as an advisor to senior managers at such companies as Amgen, Biogen, Becton Dickinson, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Siegfried Pharmaceuticals, State Street Bank, and Teradyne, assisting them in creating business and operating strategies and in improving product development performance. At several of these companies, Professor Pisano has been directly involved with the management team in the implementation of these efforts. In addition, Pisano has served on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of a number of start-up companies.
Professor Pisano holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and B.A. in economics from Yale University.
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Alberto Onetti, Director, CrESIT, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria
Alberto Onetti is Professor of business administration and innovation management at the Department of Economics of the Insubria University. He is Head of the CrESIT Research Centre since its inception. He acts as Pro-Rector for innovation and academic high-tech spin-offs.
Since 2006 he is Visiting Professor at San Francisco State University. He's also Board Member of Mind the Bridge Foundation, the California non-profit organization that connects the most innovative Italian startups with Silicon Valley's partners and investors. He is Chair of Mind the Bridge Italy.
Along the years, Alberto Onetti has developed in-depth expertise in the areas of corporate strategy and corporate finance. He acts as consultant for leading banking groups and for italian and multinational companies and sits on the board of some private companies.
Nowadays, his research interests regard life science industry and business models for high tech and global companies.
Professor Alberto Onetti is author of an extensive list of conference contributions, books and articles.
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Antonella Zucchella, Università degli Studi di Pavia
Antonella Zucchella is full professor of Marketing and Innovation Management at University of Pavia, and Director of the Business Research Department there. She also cooperates with CIBIE (Centre for International Business and the International Economy, University of Pavia). She is author of four books and more than thirty articles, ranging from entrepreneurship to international marketing and management.
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Eva Bystrenova, Nano4bio Srl
Eva Bystrenova is C.T.O. of Nono4bio Srl, society active in nanobiotechnological sector, which was founded in June 2008 by group os scientist from CNR in Bologna and University of Pisa. She graduated and obtained PhD in Physics at University of P.J. Safarik in Kosice in Slovakia. She was postdoc at University of Lausanne and EPFL in Switzerland. She has an extensive experience in the field of biophysics and nanobiotechnology. She is author of 30 papers in high impact international journal, co-invetor of one patent and has been invited and keynote lecturer at several conferences. She demonstrated her evolution from solid-state physics to soft matter and biophysics for nanofabrication. She designed and made operating a completely new laboratory dedicated to “Bio-Nanotechnology” at ISMN-Bologna. The last relevant results of her work are related to: novel nanofabrication methods with bottom-up approaches or integrated top-down / bottom-up approaches; spatial control of self-organization and self-assembly phenomena of molecular nanostructures; Patterning methods based on wetting/dewetting transitions of small molecules for cells deposition techniques, controlled cells adhesion, growth of neural cells in defined environment. Nanoscale transport properties in organic semiconductors with biosystems hybridization to explore the new and very promising field of hybrid bio-organic-electronics, which is aimed to medical diagnostics in the long term. She is versatile and very successful project manager with a wealth of pluridicriplinary technical skills acquired across a wide range of demanding roles.
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Matteo Pernisa, EchoLight
Several Years of experience in the medical market arena with a huge experience in strategic marketing and international sales network. Former positions include: Associate and Managing Director at Altwig Italia srl, medical company specializing in the marketing of high-tech medical devices; EMEA Sales Manager for Sunlight Medical Ltd, Israeli medical company specializing in ultrasound bone densitometers. Political science degree from Bologna University.
Matteo Pernisa is Co-Founder of EchoLight, a start-up company specialized in the development and marketing of innovative user friendly medical devices focused in osteoporosis and musculoskeletal related bone/joint diseases diagnosis.
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Roberto Gradnik, Assobiotec
Roberto Gradnik, aged 53, assumed the responsibility as Managing Director of the Italian branch of Serono in April 1999 and then he was appointed Regional Vice President of Hellas-Italy-Turkey Region. Since January 2007 he was appointed Senior Executive Vice President Europe Merck Serono International. Since July 2004 is President of Assobiotec, the National Association for the Development of Biotechnology, set up in October 1986 within the Italian Federation of the Chemical Industry (Federchimica). Gradnik got a degree as Medical Doctor at University of Milan, and afterward a specialization in Cardiology and Internal Medicine. He worked as researcher in Istituto Mario Negri in Milan and also at Milan University. In 1987 he entered in Bracco as Head of Clinical Studies. The following year he assumed the responsibility of Medical Director in Knoll Farmaceutici where in 1993 he was appointed as Vice President of the Cardiovascular Unit moving to the Headquarters in Ludwigshafen (Germany). Since 1996 he leaded as General Manager the Italian branch of Knoll.
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Lisa Conte, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Lisa Conte is the CEO of Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2001, Conte founded Napo Pharmaceuticals, a private pharmaceutical company focused primarily on the development and commercialization of a late stage product that treats the symptoms of multiple gastro-intestinal diseases. She has also facilitated plans to create innovative partnerships to provide for the potential availability of this product in resource-constrained settings. Conte also founded Shaman Pharmaceuticals, a natural product pharmaceutical company, having raised over $200 million in the endeavor. From 1987 to 1989 Conte was a vice president at Technology Funding, a venture capital firm where she was responsible for the analysis and management of health care industry investments. She conducted risk and strategy audits for start-up health care companies at Strategic Decisions Group, a management consulting firm, 1985-1987. She is the recipient of several entrepreneurship awards, including the 1994 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and has sat on several industry boards. Conte earned her master’s in physiology/pharmacology at the University of California at San Diego and her MBA at the Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College.
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Marina Del Bue, MolMed
Marina Del Bue joined the company as General Manager in November 2000. She has over 20 years of experience in managing the economic aspects of product development in the pharmaceutical industry. She is member of the Board and of the Healthcare Council of EuropaBio, the European bioindustry association; she is also Vice-President of Assobiotec, the Italian bioindustry association.
Before joining MolMed, Marina Del Bue worked for 10 years in Menarini Group, a leading Italian pharmaceutical corporation, where she gained broad expertise as the R&D Controller. She began the first five years of her career as a researcher in the biotechnology department at Eni Ricerche.
Marina Del Bue holds a degree in Biology from the University La Sapienza in Rome, and she received her MBA from SDA Bocconi Business School in Milan.
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Francesco Sinigaglia, BioXell
Francesco Sinigaglia
has served as chief executive officer since BioXell’s inception in 2002. Previously, Dr. Sinigaglia had been with Roche for 20 years, the first 10 years based in Basel, Switzerland, where he directed various research projects and contributed to the discovery of several drug candidates. In 1992 he founded and became the Scientific Director of Roche Milano Ricerche, a Roche Institute focusing on chronic inflammatory diseases. Dr. Sinigaglia conducted post-doctoral studies in pharmacology and immunology at the University of Milan, UniversityCollege, London and at the Basel Institute of Immunology. He received his medical degree from the University of Padova. He has authored over 100 publications in leading scientific journals including Nature, Science and Cell, on a range of topics in immunology, molecular medicine and drug discovery.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of
Okairos Ag (CH) and Assobiotec (the Italian bioindustry association) and is an elected member of EMBO (the European Molecular Biology Organization), of the National Italian Committee for Biotechnology and Life Science and of the ad-hoc advisory group of the European Commission for bio-based product.
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Lisa Conte, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Lisa Conte is the CEO of Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2001, Conte founded Napo Pharmaceuticals, a private pharmaceutical company focused primarily on the development and commercialization of a late stage product that treats the symptoms of multiple gastro-intestinal diseases. She has also facilitated plans to create innovative partnerships to provide for the potential availability of this product in resource-constrained settings. Conte also founded Shaman Pharmaceuticals, a natural product pharmaceutical company, having raised over $200 million in the endeavor. From 1987 to 1989 Conte was a vice president at Technology Funding, a venture capital firm where she was responsible for the analysis and management of health care industry investments. She conducted risk and strategy audits for start-up health care companies at Strategic Decisions Group, a management consulting firm, 1985-1987. She is the recipient of several entrepreneurship awards, including the 1994 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and has sat on several industry boards. Conte earned her master’s in physiology/pharmacology at the University of California at San Diego and her MBA at the Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College.
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Aldo Cocchiglia, M31
Graduated in Electronic Engineering at the University of Padova, Italy, Mr. Cocchiglia creates his first entrepreneurial project in 1982, when he founds ECS, a technology staartup that develops electronic controls and automation systems.
In 1984 he is co-founder and CEO of Venture Srl., which designs and manufactures industrial automation systems and computerized machine tools.
In 1990 he founds the third start-up, Fortune Srl active in the field of biomedical diagnostic systems, which four years later is acquired by Tomey, a Japanese Corporation based in Nagoya.
In 1995 he is appointed European R&D Manager of the Tomey Group, based in Erlangen, Germany.
A few years later, in 1997 he buys Fortune Srl back and he sells it one year later to Nidek Co. of Gamagori - Japan under the name of Fortune Technologies.
After three years of growth and consolidation, in 2001, the company takes the name of the parent company becoming Nidek Technologies, of which Mr. Cocchiglia is Vice President and CEO until March 2008.
In 2006 and co-founder and Director of M31 SpA, of which he becomes General Manager in April 2008.
In the same year he becomes President and CEO of Si14 SpA, a company that designs, manufactures and markets embedded systems and integrated solutions based on the latest microprocessors.
From January 2009 he is appointed President and CEO of Adaptica Srl, technology start-up that exploits the latest optical, electronic and mechanical developments in the field of adaptive optics systems.
From May 2009 he is Chairman of CenterVue SpA CenterVue that develops highly automated and WEB-connected diagnostic systems for the screening of high social impact systemic and specific diseases.
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Paola Griggio, CenterVue
Paola Griggio received the M.S. Degree at the Department of Information Engineering at University of Padua and in 2005 she got the PhD on Optical Communication Systems at the same University. During her PhD, she investigated ultra-hi speed optical communication systems, performing theoretical researches on fiber optics.
In 2004 she was visiting student at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (Maryland - USA).
From 2001 to 2005 she was consultant at Pirelli Labs Optical Innovation in Milan for the fiber design process.
In 2005 she joined Nidek Technologies in Padova as R&D engineer, entering the field of biomedical technologies.
In 2008 she co-founded the start-up Centervue where she is currently in charge of the R&D department. Centervue recently launched its first product MAIA, an advanced instrument for the retina analysis.
She is author and co-author of more than 20 papers on international reviews and received the "Carlo Offelli" award as outstanding researcher at the Department of Information Engineering at University of Padua in 2005.
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Maurizio Liverani, Class Finance
Maurizio Liverani is Chairman of Baryon Capital Corporation. Maurizio Liverani also holds the post of Managing Partner of ClassFinance, a Milan-based financial advisory firm and is Regional Network Officer and Board Member of World President Organization (WPO) Europe.
From 1991-2005, Liverani developed Algol Group, a distributor of network computing products and internet infrastructure solutions. Liverani was CEO of Algol France and Chairman & CEO of Algol Group (Milan). Liverani was CEO and founder of California-based ALCOM Corp., a manufacturer of document communications servers from 1988 to 1991.
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Roberta Profeta, Intesa SanPaolo
Roberta Profeta is Innovation Manager for the Corporate & Investment Banking Division of Intesa Sanpaolo, since the Innovation Department was first created. Being Innovation Manager entails the fostering of research, development and innovation in the scientific and technological world. Prior to this, she was Policy Officer for the European Commission, with a focus on the ‘Risk Sharing Finance Facility’, a new financing instrument for Research, Development and Innovation launched by the EC and the European Investment Bank (EIB) under the 7th Framework Programme 2007 - 2013. Before her experience at the European Commission, she was Relationship Manager for North American Large Corporates within Banca Intesa. Having received a British education until her A-levels, she completed her University studies in Italy, with a Thesis on ‘Aids: Legal and Social Aspects – A Comparison Between Italy and England and Wales’. She is an alumna of the Young Leaders Programme.
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Elizabeth Robinson, NicOx
Dr. Elizabeth Robinson is a co-founder of NicOx SA – a leading French/Italian biotech company, created in 1996, specialised in nitric oxide-donating drugs. She previously held the position of Executive Vice President, Corporate Development for NicOx SA and is currently a member of the Board of Directors and President of NicOx Srl. Dr Robinson served as a venture consultant for Sofinnova Partners, Paris France from 2005-2008, and for Biocatalyst International from 2005-2007. She is member of the Fulbright Commission in Italy and Chairman of the Board of Layline Genomics. Dr. Robinson has broad experience in the development and licensing of innovative pharmaceutical compounds. Dr. Robinson is a founding Board member and shareholder of Relivia Srl, an Italian Company specialized in dermatology. She has served as Director, Product Development, at Recordati Italy (1990-1996); Consultant, Technology Development, at Techint Engineering Company (1988-1990); Vice President, New Technology Ventures Europe, at Genzyme (1985-1988); Visiting Scientist at MIT (1984-1987); Instructor at MIT (1983) and Post Doctorate Research Associate at MIT (1982-1984). Dr. Robinson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College in 1977, received her M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979 and her Ph.D. in biotechnology from MIT in 1982. Dr. Robinson is also a member of the Italian Buisness Angels and the First Generation group in Italy.
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