Global Bioeconomy Consulting (GBC) is a strategy-through-implementation consulting firm dedicated to developing the innovative life sciences sector and related converging sectors in regions throughout the globe. We work directly with local stakeholders to create practical solutions to enable and accelerate competitive growth and prosperity in the region.

Our international focus and experience provides us with a deep understanding of government policy and development challenges faced by the life sciences and related industries in different countries around the world. With an overall objective to build local prosperity, we work alongside our clients to engage local partners, including governments, academia, industry, and not-for-profit organizations in the implementation of actionable strategies that generate sustainable growth and global competitiveness.

What We Do

GBC works closely with regional decision makers and consortia representing key regional players including government and economic development offices, academic institutions, life sciences companies and related organizations to develop and implement regional growth strategies. We assist in advancing these initiatives by:

• Evaluating the economic impact of the life sciences and related sectors and identifying programs to accelerate regional development

• Identifying and profiling innovative assets, and core strengths and gaps within the region

• Benchmarking and global competitive analysis

• Developing tools for regional branding and marketing

• Assessing and redeveloping regional programs and initiatives

• Providing tools to measure and evaluate performance, impact, and return on investment to ensure effectiveness of adopted strategies and implementation plans

• Developing innovative and high-impact business cases/plans pertaining to specific programs/projects such as incubators, research parks and networking systems to increase R&D, commercialization, investment attraction and entrepreneurial success

• Identifying and facilitating global networks and investment partnerships

• Providing and implementing communications plans to establish targeted relationships

• Crafting recommendations for government policy reforms

Our Value

GBC brings significant experience and expertise in both the planning and implementation of regional economic strategies in the life sciences and related sectors:

• We have a proven process for the assessment of regional strengths and needs through both primary and secondary research.

• Our experience working with government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations in North America , Latin America , Europe , and Asia-Pacific has provided us with significant expertise in coordinating the development of fact-driven strategy supported by multi-stakeholder consensus in order to determine the greatest opportunities for growth of the life sciences sector.

• Our international team has been built with knowledge and expertise in the life sciences, business and public policy environments, providing us with a unique ability to assess local strengths and needs, and to align them with areas of global competitiveness.

No other group combines our breadth of experience in international economic development strategies within the life sciences sector with the practical implementation of those strategies.

Our Experience

GBC has had significant experience developing and implementing strategic plans that provide a detailed “course of action” to guide regions in building their economic capacity in the life sciences and ultimately, improving health systems and patient care. GBC has focused entirely on the development of global bioeconomies and the life sciences. Inherent in this definition is improving health-related services, delivery and products. 

We work to develop customized regional strategies tailored to address the developmental needs identified by each region. There are principles and approaches on which we base all projects, but we never cookie-cut from one region to the next. Our goal in working with regions, corporations, institutions, and individuals is to help build the health and life sciences sector into a key contributor to the regional economy.

Previous projects include life sciences strategies for the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute, the Greater Philadelphia Region, Kansas Bioscience and Innovation, Hawaii Life Sciences Cluster, Puerto Rico Health Care Clusters, Mexico Life Sciences Initiative (including Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara), and many others.  See www.bioeconomies.com for case studies.

Our Core Team

GBC was created as a spin-off from Washington based New Economy Strategies LLC (NES). The formation of Global Bioeconomy Consulting (GBC) provided a means to link international partners in the delivery of economic development services to regions that wish to participate in the global life sciences sector.

Richard Seline – Principal & CEO ( Washington D.C. )

Richard is the Founder and Principal of New Economy Strategies (NES). He has been working in the economic development arena for over eighteen years at the national, regional, and local levels. He has been recognized for his work in public-private partnerships, regional business climate analysis, and technology adaptation by numerous business organizations.  

Robert Merson – Managing Director ( Toronto , Canada )

Robert has worked in life sciences consulting for 6 years and has successfully completed over 100 projects with clients from government, academia, industry and not-for-profit organizations. Through GBC he delivers regional strategies to the international community with a focus on corporate social responsibility and underdeveloped regions.

Yali Friedman, Ph.D. – Chief Knowledge Officer ( Washington D.C. )

Yali is author of Building Biotechnology and created the About.com biotechnology industry website. Yali plays an active role in supporting GBC engagements.

Louise Batchelder – Regional Director, Latin America ( Mexico City , Mexico )

Louise founded Synergy & Logistics ( Mexico ) in 2004, dedicated to integral solutions in the healthcare, education and social development sectors. Louise's high-level access to government, private sector, academia and NGOs, as well as her local knowledge of life science models, facilitated GBC's market entry strategy in 2005.

Crispin Kirkman – Regional Director, Europe ( Surrey , United Kingdom )

Crispin founded ETNA Ltd in 2003. The company majors in stimulating international partnering for governments, regions and sectors, as well as for individual clients, and in strategic policy advice. After a career of 23 years within the UK healthcare service, Kirkman was for three years head of the UK trade association for biotechnology. He also chaired the European committee of national biotechnology associations. From these platforms, he traveled widely in Europe and the East on national-level missions and partnering delegations, forming an extensive network of political, commercial and academic connections in the life sciences and innovation sectors. This network is a major source of GBC's team in Europe , both in strategic expertise and in local knowledge.

Our Europe Team

Iva n Baines – Germany

Ivan is the founder of Biopolis Consultants, a biopharm consultancy operating out of Dresden , with strong strategic connections with BioSaxony and in the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. From his training as a cell biologist and biochemist, he has worked in prestigious US and German research laboratories before turning to the business development of biochemistry enterprises. Ivan is currently leading business development for a cutting edge French biotech company.

Teresa Cunha – Portugal

With a doctorate in chemical engineering, Teresa moved to Intelli, a Lisbon based consultancy on technology innovation, where she led the biotechnology programme for 3 years. She is now working within the GBC team and consulting for several other international companies on both sides of the Atlantic .

Fred du Plessis – UK

Fred, a chemical engineer by training, has spent 24 years in development roles in the field of chemistry and life sciences on over 100 internationalisation projects. In 1998 he set up New Dimensions Consulting from which he led several major assignments in Germany and UK for major chemical companies, and was retained by the Industrial Investment Council in Berlin to lead the inward investment programme for eastern Germany in the fields of chemicals and biotechnology.

Karl Simpson – France

Karl was a research molecular biologist and licensed patents in vaccines to major pharmaceutical companies, before establishing his life science business consultancy, Benezech-Simpson in 1985. Equally fluent in English, French and German, he has led projects for the EMBO, European Commission, NATO and several European Governments. His clients include many of the major pharmaceutical companies, and also life science strategic bodies in Europe and the Far East .

Jacques Viseur – Belgium

Jacques began as a plant biologist from which he developed and licensed a patent, before developing a career in international collaboration programmes in life sciences. He led an EU programme for collaboration with Latin America , and was the first secretary-general of what is now EuropaBio, the biotech trade body in Europe . His company EuroTop Collaboration Partners, established in 1990 combines strategic advice on regional development to European, regional and governmental bodies in Brussels and across Belgium , with infrastructure services in the ICT field to facilitate collaborations. He is well known for his international facilitation skills in most European countries, and has been a key leader and advisor in the European Commission’s projects for promotion of the Framework Programme since 1994. 

GBC has additional associates across Europe on which it can call for local knowledge and specific skills.

Visit the GBC website at www.bioeconomies.com