Steffen Goletz, viceinstitutdirektør DTU Bioengineering. Foto: Mikal Schlosser.

DTU Bioengineering hire Deputy Director responsible for innovation and entrepreneurship

Bioteknologi og biokemi Entreprenørskab Innovation og produktudvikling
New Deputy Director at DTU Bioengineering Steffen Goletz is passionate about turning ideas into viable business.

Steffen Goletz has traveled on the stretch from idea and patent to marketing many times. Despite his only 52 years, he can look back on a career in which he has founded several Biotech companies based on his scientific ideas, and matured and led them as CEO and CSO successfully over more than 17 years. But he is particularly passionate about the first part of the journey, where the idea takes shape.

“My ambition is to go back to the roots. I myself come from a research tradition, and I am and always was deeply engaged in research. My heart beats to create and shape new ideas into substantial and viable start-up businesses and I am looking very much forward to help guiding researchers and students in their process from idea to business. For that, I expect large potentials at DTU Bioengineering where there is a rather unique combination of leading research that is also close to my own research interest. I am sure that by collaboration, bundling technologies as well as creating, shaping and using brilliant ideas we will be able to lift innovation potentials in the department says Steffen Goletz Deputy Director at DTU Bioengineering.

Steffen Goletz has previously in his carrier founded and operated as CEO and CSO in a leading glycoengineering company Glycotope in Berlin. In his responsibilities he acquired more than 220 Mio. Euro from investors and licenses and headed the R&D from early Research and Discovery, Preclinical Development and Validation, Clone and Process Development, Toxicology of Biopharmaceuticals, but also Clinical Development and tests on humans from FIM to larger Ph IIb Studies. In addition, he acquired, headed and expanded a GMP production for biopharmaceuticals. He filed more than 60 patent families, has published more than 50 scientific articles and is an active member of the EXIST jury, the program of the Ministry of Economy and Energy of Germany for the technology transfer from academic research to industry.

New research areas

"My heart beats to create and shape new ideas into substantial and viable start-up businesses and I am looking very much forward to help guiding researchers and students in their process from idea to business."
Steffen Goletz, Deputy Director at DTU Bioengineering

DTU Bioengineering has over the past year expanded its academic breadth with a number of new research areas. The Institute has attracted significant academic capabilities in protein research, fermentation technology, nanotechnology, microbiome research, high throughput technology, and secondary metabolite research.

This growing research environment offers great opportunities for innovation, entrepreneurship and filling of patents. It can e.g. be patents for new antibodies, modified molecules or immunological tests that can be used in biological production processes, optimization and engineering of strains for production of biochemicals or microorganisms or microbiomes used in biocontrol, waste treatment or treatment of diseases. It could also be new enzymes used in food production, textiles, personal care, production of bioenergy etc.  

“There are great potentials at DTU Bioengineering and in the focus on healthcare that DTU has implemented. It offers completely new opportunities to work across technologies and focus on what steps are needed to make an idea commercially interesting. There is no standard recipe. This happens case-by case. And it depends entirely on whether we are talking about service solutions, Biotech or pharmaceutical products or technology platforms. We will go for what is useful for new companies, startups or out-licensing to larger companies in respect of the these areas,” says Steffen Goletz.

Strong patents

Based on his own experience of establishing a business, Steffen Goletz attaches great importance to protecting data and mature ideas and gathering data that can give the researchers a strong patent. It is his experience that if a technology is to be developed and millions are to be invested in the project, it is of great importance that the technology or product is well protected.

“Solid protection provides a good starting point for entering into a collaboration with companies or investors, because the researcher can be more open about his invention because it is protected. From the investors and companies point of view, a solid protection provides assurance that their future investment is protected.”

Steffen Goletz joined the post of Deputy Director and professor on February 1 and in 2019 will be joined by another new professor with a special focus on research and innovation in micro and nanotechnology systems for biological and biomedical user programs. Apart from taking a lead position in bringing ideas to business he is also eager to start his own research activities, which will be focused around Glycoengineering especially in the field of microbiome and glycoimmunology which is considered to have a large series of applications for novel technologies, platform technologies as well as development of novel biopharmaceuticals.