This year’s Genomics Momentum, held on Wednesday 28 November 2007,
marked an important transition not only for the Netherlands Genomics Initiative,
but for the genomics community in the Netherlands in general. The transition from the first into the second phase of a National Genomics strategy directed by NGI.
Gathered in the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, close to 300 participants listened to NGI’s plans for the period 2008 - 2012, presented by Diederik Zijderveld, Director of NGI. Research, infrastructure, society, talent and valorisation are the key elements of the second phase
of NGI. In addition, NGI will assume a leading role in starting discussions with all partners
in the Dutch life sciences field to evaluate the current innovation chain and come up with suggestions for improvement. This is critical, Zijderveld emphasized, for only then will NGI’s efforts yield optimal results.
Next on stage were the directors of the NGI Genomics Centres, accompanied by a partner from their consortium. Confronted with the to-the-point questions of Dutch journalist Frénk van der Linden, each duo commented on their experiences with creating a new, large-scale consortium from a collection of individual and diverse parties. Although each centre of course has its own story and own characteristics, trust between the consortium partners was a commonly
mentioned precondition for success. Sharing a long-term vision, perseverance, patience and respect for each other’s opinions and contributions were also named as essential to get enterprises like these off the ground.
The afternoon’s keynote speaker, Dirk Inzé, started by giving some advice to NGI and the NGI Genomics Centres. Inzé is a professor at Ghent University, Scientific Director of the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) and founder of CropDesign. According to Inzé, it’s essential to think big. If you do it, do it right, is his motto. Rather than creating multiple small companies, go for a few big ones. But his presentation wasn’t about business, it was about plants. Or more specifically, plant growth and how systems biology is developed and applied to understand the very complex nature of growth. After a dazzling array of information on how to generate, interpret and integrate data to build models that can ultimately be used for prediction, Inzé reassured the audience that quantum leaps are definitely possible in the field of systems biology in the coming years. Partnerships between industry and academia will, as before, continue to play a crucial role towards making such leaps possible.
Download GM2007 photo impression (1.5 Mbytes)