Dr Veronique Bouchet Joins SBC Board as Independent Director

STEVENAGE, England, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Experienced executive brings big pharma and venture creation insight

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC), the UK's first open innovation bioscience campus, is pleased to announce that Dr Veronique Bouchet, Founder Director of life sciences consulting and coaching company Novudel Associates, has been appointed to its Board as an Independent Director. Dr Bouchet has worked across the healthcare sector for over 25 years in a range of senior roles, and brings important insights into pharmaceutical strategy, venture creation and innovation. Her appointment as Independent Director marks a new phase of investment and growth at the incubator, and fills the role discharged during the first phase of construction and launch of SBC by Tim Rink, who is retiring from the Board.

Prior to founding Novudel, Dr Bouchet was Director of Corporate Strategy and Head of VC Relations at AstraZeneca, where she was responsible for delivering new strategic initiatives and ventures, as well as supporting the business development activities of the Innovative Medicine Units. Before this, she was Head of Venture Strategy with responsibility for AstraZeneca's corporate venture activities, and led  the creation and $40m financing of its first spinout, Albireo. In addition Veronique has held a variety of roles in the healthcare industry across therapeutic areas and functions, including drug development and M&A, at both AstraZeneca UK and Grünenthal GmbH. She has also worked in venture capital at the Rothschild Bioscience Unit in London. 

Dr Bouchet is a non-executive director of International Biotechnology Trust plc., an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange,  a Trustee of Breast Cancer Campaign UK and a member of the Council of Queen Mary, University of London. She has an MB BS from St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, holds a BSc in Psychology from University College London, and a Diploma from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She holds an MBA from INSEAD, has a Diploma (Distinction) from the Coaching Academy UK, and has been awarded the Institute of Directors' Diploma in Company Direction (Distinction).

Dr Allan Baxter, Chairman of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, said, "We are delighted to welcome Veronique, with her breadth of international life sciences experience and drive, to the Board. Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst has strong links across industry, academia and the finance community, and she will help us to leverage these further, as well as playing a key role in the formation and mentoring of start-ups. Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst Board also takes this opportunity to acknowledge the significant contribution made by Tim to our successful launch, and we will miss his keen insight."

Dr Veronique Bouchet added, "The UK has an excellent science base, and with its access to the expertise of a pharmaceutical company as well as its other stakeholders and venture capital partners, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst provides a unique environment to foster innovation. I am looking forward to building on my experience and networks to help SBC develop new business models, and play a key role in the rejuvenation of the UK life sciences sector."

About Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is the UK's first open innovation bioscience campus, pioneering a unique culture to drive early stage drug discovery and development. It is backed by £38m of funding from its founding partners - GlaxoSmithKline, the Wellcome Trust, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Technology Strategy Boardand the former East of England Development Agency. Consisting of an Incubator, an Accelerator and a Hub, covering 60,000 sq ft of laboratory, office and networking space, the independent facility is expected to house a range of companies, from virtual and start-up firms to those which are more established. Located on the GlaxoSmithKline Stevenage site, Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst is in the unique position of operating in proximity to the expertise and resources of a major pharmaceutical company, close to both London and Cambridge. For more information, please go to http://www.stevenagecatalyst.com.

About Open Innovation

Firms using Open Innovation (OI) combine their own R&D with externally sourced ideas and expertise. OI is characterised by highly effective use of connections and networks to exchange knowledge and ideas, external partners being involved at all stages of product development, equitable win-win business relationships, and new business models to maximise the value of intellectual property and other assets.  Examples in various sectors have shown that the benefits of OI include reduced time to market for new products and services, access to new markets, improved innovation success rates and increased profits.  SBC will promote use of Open Innovation within the life sciences sector, connecting SMEs with an active network consisting of GlaxoSmithKline and its other stakeholders, academia, charities, other businesses and funding bodies.  The term 'Open Innovation' and related research into its practice has been developed extensively by Professor Henry Chesbrough, Executive Director of the Program in Open Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley (http://openinnovation.berkeley.edu).

About GlaxoSmithKline

GSK aims to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. This mission gives us the purpose to develop innovative medicines and products that help millions of people around the world. Every hour we spend more than £300,000 (US$562,000) in our search for new medicines that can make a difference to patients.We are one of the pharmaceutical industry leaders, with an estimated seven per cent of the world's pharmaceutical market and one of the few companies researching both medicines and vaccines for the World Health Organization's three priority diseases - HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. As a company with a firm foundation in science, we have a flair for research and a track record of turning that research into powerful, marketable drugs.

About the Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. The Trust's breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. It is independent of both political and commercial interests. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk

About EEDA

EEDA's mission was to improve the economy of the East of England through helping businesses prosper, supporting people to be the best they can and breathing new life into places. Working with others it helped improve the lives of thousands of people with investments that will continue to have an impact for decades to come. EEDA worked across the six counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk , and unitary authorities of Central Bedfordshire, Bedford, Luton, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. In the Emergency Budget of 22 June 2010, the government confirmed its intention to abolish all regional development agencies and replace them with Local Enterprise Partnerships. EEDA closed in March 2012.

About the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is building a dynamic and competitive UK economy by: creating the conditions for business success; promoting innovation, enterprise and science; and giving everyone the skills and opportunities to succeed. To achieve this it will foster world-class universities and promote an open global economy. BIS - Investing in our future.

About the Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board works to drive economic growth by making the UK a global leader in innovation. Established by the government, the Technology Strategy Board helps business to innovate faster and more effectively than would otherwise be possible. It uses its expertise, connections and funding to enable collaborations and partnerships between businesses, researchers and government, and to help business to create innovative products and services which will meet market needs, tackle the challenges of our time and build the economy of tomorrow. http://www.innovateuk.org

Photo available upon request

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

Novudel Associates
Veronique Bouchet                    
veronique.bouchet@novudel.com