von Gabain, who will succeed Martin Schuurmans when his term ends on 15 September 2011, said, “I am very much looking forward to taking on this challenge with my colleagues at the EIT headquarters and together continue to shape our first three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). After successfully seed-investing into the first three KICs, the next four years will be decisive for the EIT as we will present and start implementing our first Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA).”
“The SIA will outline the EIT’s future priorities and provide the basis for further support from the European Union, in order for the EIT to become a significant driver of intelligent and sustainable growth and competitiveness in Europe,” von Gabain said.
He added, “I will try to do my very best to live up to the standards set by our first chairman, Martin, whose outstanding leadership has been pivotal for the success in implementing the EIT and its first three KICs in record time.”
von Gabain obtained a PhD in genetics at the University of Heidelberg and was a postdoc at Stanford University. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a professor at the University of Umeå and at the Karolinska Institute, as well as acting as an advisor to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. From 1992 to 1998 he was chair of microbiology at the University of Vienna and was appointed to the board of EIT in 2008.
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