Mr. Alexander von Gabain, Chairman of the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)

Alexander von Gabain obtained his Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of Heidelberg and held a post-doctorate position at the Stanford University. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was Professor at the University of Umeå and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as an advisor to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. From 1992 to 1998, he was Chair of Microbiology of the University of Vienna at the Campus Vienna Biocenter, Austria and has helped to build the public private partnership of the Vienna Biocenter/IMP. In 1998, he co-founded Intercell AG and led the company as CEO until it was successfully floated on the Vienna Stock Exchange in 2005. From 2005 to 2009, he was Member of the Executive Management Board and CSO of the Company. Since then, he has been serving the Company as strategic advisor and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board.

His research interest is in the field of biomedical research and documented by a large number of publications, book chapters and patents. He is professor of Microbiology at the Max Perutz Laboratories of the University of Vienna, and foreign adjunct professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, member of several professional organizations and serves on the boards of biotech enterprises, including TVM Capital, Munich. In 2008, he was appointed to the Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), where he is involved with the innovative entrepreneurship agenda. His achievements have been acknowledged by prestigious industrial awards, academic prizes, honourable memberships, including the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Science.