CLIB General Assembly 2023 – Cluster activities reviewed and new Board elected
This year’s CLIB General Assembly was kindly hosted by Covestro in their new IdeaLab in Leverkusen. Dennis Herzberg, CLIB Cluster Manager, presented the unchanged vision of the cluster, to drive the transformation towards a sustainable bioeconomy through its strong network.
The strategy of CLIB rests on the six strategic pillars Networking & Partnering, Improving Framework Conditions, Accelerating Tech Development, Facilitating Scale-Up, Developing Bioeconomists, and Fostering Entrepreneurship. Members of the CLIB team took turns to present these pillars and the corresponding highlights of the last year.
Following a suggestion by the CLIB Team, the Extended Board developed a new body of the association: CLIB Focus Groups. These were announced at the GA, with all representatives of CLIB members invited to become involved and join these thematic groups on C1 feedstocks, biomaterials & processes, and food &feed. We hope that these focus groups will allow our members to interact event better with each other, discuss current trends, and create new collaborations.
Also at this GA, the CLIB members present elected a new Extended Board. We bid farewell to two board members who did not stand for re-election and say hello to two new board members.
Representing the different member groups industry, SMEs, academia, and others, the Extended Board guides CLIB’s strategy. Karl-Erich Jaeger (University of Düsseldorf/FZ Juelich), who had been a member of the Board since the founding of CLIB, did not stand for re-election due to his upcoming retirement. Peter Kallien of b.value also decided to step down. We are very grateful for their long-term commitment to the cluster and their important support over the years.
The two new board members are Prof. Stephan Lütz (TU Dortmund University) and Dr. Cornelia Bähr (b.value). They will strengthen the Board with a new perspective and have been in touch with CLIB for several years. Stephan Lütz was active in the CLIB Competence Center Biotechnology, CKB, and Cornelia Bähr you might remember from her time in the CLIB office before she joined b.value where she is now Investment Director. We’re happy that both decided to take up the responsibility as CLIB Board Members and congratulate them on their election.
The Extended Board unanimously elected four of its members to the CLIB Executive Board. Our previous Chairman Karl-Heinz Maurer decided to step back and stand as Vice-Chair, while Roland Breves volunteered as new Chairman of CLIB.
CLIB e.V. elects an extended board of 12 members every 2 years, comprising three representatives from each of the four member groups: Industry, SME, Academia and Other. The members of the Extended Board elect the Executive Board from among their number.
Executive Board
Chairman: Dr. Roland Breves, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Vice-Chairman: Dr. Karl-Heinz Maurer, Aachen Proteineers
Vice-Chairman: Prof. Dr. Volker F. Wendisch, Bielefeld University
Treasurer: Hans-Jürgen Mittelstaedt, VCI NRW
Extended Board
Dr. Cornelia Bähr, b.value AG
Prof. Dr. Ludo Diels, VITO
Dr. Silko Grimm, Evonik Industries AG
Dr. Claas Heise, NRW.BANK
Dr. Gernot Jäger, Covestro AG
Dr. Frank Kensy, b.fab GmbH
Prof. Dr. Stephan Lütz, TU Dortmund University
Dr. Peter Welters, Phytowelt GreenTechnologies GmbH
