For immediate release
IMI/OUT/2014-02072
- Mandate of current Executive Director is non-renewable and ends in December 2014
- New Executive Director will be expected to manage IMI to highest standards and ensure its continued success
- Deadline for applications is 16 July 2014
BRUSSELS, 18 June 2014 – Europe's Innovative Medicines Initiative, IMI, is seeking to recruit a new Executive Director as the non-renewable mandate for the current long-serving holder of the post, Professor Michel Goldman, is coming to its end in December 2014. Building on Michel Goldman's achievements, the new Executive Director is expected to manage IMI to the highest standards and to ensure the continued success of the initiative, which under the name of IMI2 will enter into a second phase in July this year.
Rudolf Strohmeier of the European Commission and Deputy Chair of the IMI Governing Board, stated: ‘The IMI Executive Director post implies a great deal of responsibility. IMI is a pharmaceutical research and innovation champion, and a role model for collaborative research, open innovation and public-private partnering. Michel Goldman has done a great job. As we are about to start IMI2 we expect his successor to build on his achievements and take the partnership further.’
Roch Doliveux, CEO of UCB and Chair of the IMI Governing Board, said: ‘New science and technology have opened many opportunities for medical research. Yet no one can harness the potential of the new science alone. With its collaborative spirit, IMI has already made great achievements, improving the lives of patients and enhancing European economic success. I would like to thank Michel Goldman and the entire IMI team for shaping IMI’s success, and look forward to IMI’s continued success in making a positive impact for patients through advancing science for the benefit of citizens.’
The vacancy notice for the Executive Director post was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, CA 186, on 18 June 2014. The deadline to apply is 16 July 2014 and the successful candidate is expected to take up his/her duties on 1 January 2015. The maximum duration of employment will be seven years, comprising the initial three-year appointment period plus – subject to approval of the IMI Governing Board – a four-year extension. The Executive Director will be employed as AD 14 grade Temporary Agent under the relevant rules for European Union servants.
The Executive Director will play a key role for the implementation of the IMI Joint Technology Initiative of which he/she is the legal representative. He/she will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the IMI, providing leadership at both strategic and operational levels.
Background
IMI is the world's largest public-private partnership in life sciences, and a key player in pharmaceutical research and innovation for next generation vaccines, medicines and treatments to tackle Europe’s growing health challenges.
Earlier this year, the European Parliament and EU member states gave their green light to a second, even more ambitious round of the partnership, IMI2. It is now in the starting blocks, equipped with a budget of up to €3.3 billion for the 2014-24 period, and ready to be launched on 9 July this year. The new partnership will entirely be driven by the biggest public health challenges. Its strategic research agenda is based on last year’s WHO report Priority medicines for Europe and the world, which defines pharmaceutical gaps for diseases for which treatments do not exist, are inadequate, or are not reaching patients.
Just like its predecessor, IMI2 will be based on the principle of investing together, and the sharing of risk and reward. Europe's large pharmaceutical companies, represented through their umbrella organisation EFPIA, will pay approximately half of the partnership's budget covering their own participation in IMI's projects. The EU will pay the other half to fund all other partners such as academic researchers, patient groups, regulators, small companies, mid-caps and so on.
Other industries such as the imaging or medical devices sectors will be able to join the new partnership alongside the EFPIA member companies. In addition, small and medium-sized companies which are members of national pharmaceutical industry associations in Europe can also take part, which was not the case before.
#ENDS#
Notes to Editors
- More information on the post and the selection procedure can be found in the full vacancy notice
- Find out more about IMI 2
Press contact:
Catherine Brett – External Relations Manager
Tel: +32 2 541 8214 - Mobile: +32 484 896227 - E-mail: catherine.brett@imi.europa.eu
About IMI
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). IMI is improving the environment for pharmaceutical innovation in Europe by engaging and supporting networks of industrial and academic experts in collaborative research projects.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative currently supports 46 projects, many of which are already producing impressive results. The projects are all working to address the biggest challenges in drug development, with the goal of accelerating the development of safer and more effective treatments for patients.
- More info on IMI: www.imi.europa.eu
- Follow us on Twitter: @IMI_JU