Rudi, now working in Venture Capital in the Netherlands, was VIB co-founder and Director of Tech Transfer from 1995-2012. He presented the Chinese concept of “Guanxi” to the 50+ EMBL and VIB alumni and staff as “a network of people you can trust,” adding that “alumni can play this role as people who have worked in our institutions and know our culture.”

This was the underlying message of the meeting, organised in the context of EMBL’s 40th anniversary. EMBL and VIB had joined forces for this event in order to offer their alumni and staff a broader network of life scientists in Belgium with similar institutional cultures.

Jo Bury, managing director of VIB, enthusiastically welcomed the participants to the VIB facilities as “role models for our future scientists as well as ‘excellence brand’ ambassadors who can help expand the visibility and reputation of our institutes.” He called upon all VIB alumni to actively participate in the establishment and growth of the VIB Alumni Association.

Lieve Ongena, VIB Sr Science Policy Manager, explained the focus of this first meeting. Due to VIB’s strong record in technology transfer and the status of the campus as a Biotech hub in Flanders, tech transfer was the obvious subject focus. The programme included a tour of the campus where bio-incubators, bio-accellerators, spin off companies as well as large biotech companies work swiftly together in one location.