New leader to be appointed to drive next phase of campus development
Stevenage, UK, March 14 2017 – Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the open innovation campus driving collaboration to improve healthcare, has announced that CEO Martino Picardo will be leaving at the end of June. Dr Picardo, SBC’s first CEO, will return to his home base in Manchester from where he will continue to pursue opportunities in the life sciences sector. The SBC Board has started the search for his replacement, and seeks a dynamic leader committed to growing SBC’s unique collaborative ethos.
Since his appointment at the beginning of 2011, Dr Picardo has developed SBC into a leading UK life sciences hub, overseeing a range of milestones and unique initiatives. These include opening of the Incubator and Accelerator buildings in 2012, the launch of an open innovation challenge in neurodegenerative disease, and establishment of translational laboratories for the University of Cambridge and UCL.
He played a pivotal role in developing a thriving multi-party campus hosting MRCT’s Centre for Therapeutics Discovery and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult’s Manufacturing Centre, along with bringing in partners such as GE Healthcare, Eli Lilly & Co, J&J Innovation and Sanofi. SBC recently celebrated its fifth anniversary since opening, during which time it has supported more than 50 tenants who have raised over £200m in funding while in residence.
The new CEO will be announced in due course.
Martino Picardo, CEO of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, said, ‘Being CEO of SBC has been the most exciting role of my career so far. I’ve enjoyed every minute of leading this unique initiative, which wouldn’t be the success it is today without the fantastic backing of the SBC team, Board and tenants. I would also like to thank our founder stakeholders GlaxoSmithKline, Wellcome and BEIS/Innovate UK for their continued support over the past six years. Although I am very sad to be leaving, the time is right to hand over to a new leader to grow SBC in its next phase of development.’
Ian Tomlinson, Chairman of the SBC Board, added, ‘Martino’s vision, drive and enthusiasm have been key in making Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst such a dynamic and innovative life sciences hub. As well as leading development of the campus, he has been an important source of support to many tenant companies, and played a key role in the development of the life sciences sector across the UK. SBC’s staff, tenants, partners and stakeholders join with the Board to offer him our sincere appreciation and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.’
For more information, please contact:
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Martino Picardo, CEO
+44 (0)1438 906906
Emma Palmer Foster, Strategic Communications Consultant
+44 (0)7880 787185
comms@stevenagecatalyst.com
Notes for Editors
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) opened as the UK’s first open innovation biomedical campus in 2012, and combines a unique blend of infrastructure and virtual networks to drive collaboration. Backed by a novel partnership between Government, GlaxoSmithKline and Wellcome, the remit was, and remains, to catalyse innovation for patient benefit in a phased development. SBC has a strong commitment to companies that focus on high quality science and share its vision, and its development of activity clusters and direct access to the expertise of a major pharmaceutical company are among its unique characteristics. There is start-up and grow-on space for companies, plus a commercially focused management team viewed as a leader in UK incubation. With Phase 1 at capacity, the next phase is in development for the continuation of the collaborative vision. Co-located with GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is located close to both London and Cambridge. For more information, please go to www.stevenagecatalyst.com. Follow us on twitter @SteBioCat
About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst’s stakeholders
Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst’s stakeholders are GlaxoSmithKline (www.gsk.com), Wellcome (www.wellcome.ac.uk), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy; formerly the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), and Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board; www.innovateuk.org).
