Vetmeduni Vienna

Closing the gap between research and business

Our first visit of 2011 took us to the University of Veterinary Medicine, in Vienna, which is the oldest such institution in the German-speaking world (founded in 1765), where Mag. Annekathrin Mayrhofer, Director of Human Resources and Infrastructure, welcomed the trade delegates and guided them around the Campus on a short tour.

First, the CdH-members got an impression of the Vetmed?s daily business in the veterinary hospital: All kinds of animal are treated there, from the smallest to the biggest. In Austria?s only Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for animals, Dr.med.vet. Priv.-Doz. Eva Eberspächer and her team take care of patients from all over Europe.

Support for spin-offs, researchers and investors

After the guided tour, Managing Director, Mag. Christine Ruckenbauer, gave us a snapshot of the university?s activities: Today, not only the classical areas of research in the field of veterinary medicine, but also a growing number of domains related to human medicine, are being explored, such as the fast detection of epidemic diseases and the development of pre-emptive and direct intervention measures to combat epidemics; the providing of healthy food; and the risk analysis of research results. In the future, the importance of the these fields can be expected to grow.

At the campus some spin-off companies to capitalise on discoveries and developments have been established as well, each of them finding their specific market niche. They are supported (and, to a certain percentage, partly owned)  by VetWIDI, a Vetmeduni subsidiary company, which closes the gap between research and business activities at the Vetmeduni, by supporting spin-off-projects. The agency publicises opportunities for co-operation between research and industry - either in seminars or face-to-face meetings ? and offers consultancy services in every aspect of technology transfer, not only for students at the Vetmeduni, but also for outside companies or entrepreneurs looking for a researcher or a research group with a particular expertise; or investors looking for start-up companies and business opportunities.

Biosafety for the benefit of mankind

Besides Marinomed, discovering and developing innovative anti-viral and immunological treatments utilising marine biology, one of Vetmeduni's most famous spin-offs is Mycosafe.  This company was introduced to the visitors by founder Professor Renate Rosengarten.   Mycosafe was originally founded as the first and only contract research organisation in Austria and one of the few in Europe specialising in the GMP-compliant quality control testing for the detection of mycoplasma contamination. Today, Mycosafe is recognised as a leading contract research organisation with a high level of expertise in the area of mycoplasma biosafety of cell cultures, virus stocks and related biopharmaceutical products and vaccines.

The trade delegates then met a second founder presenting his own company (another spin-off), Dr. Andy Bailey, born in Scotland, currently serving as an external expert for the EU SCENIHR committee on emerging human health risks, and a frequent presenter at international biopharmaceutical conferences, who founded Virusure with the goal of providing a high quality testing service to the biopharmaceutical industry. Virusure provides high quality biosafety testing services to the biopharmaceutical industry, e.g. for specialised products, perhaps produced in an unusual cell line or introduced via a technology not previously the subject of intensive study in humans.

You will find the presentations in our download section (members only)