Dr Ingmar Hoerr, chief executive officer of clinical-stage mRNA technology specialist CureVac, has been appointed to the European Commission’s High Level Group for research and innovation programmes.
Dr Hoerr joins a panel of 15 group members who will advise the EC on how to strengthen support for breakthrough, market-creating innovation in the Horizon 2020 project as well as future programmes.
He brings 17 years of experience as the founder and chief executive of CureVac, which specialises in the research and development of treatments that instruct the human body to produce its own proteins to combat a range of diseases.
Dr Hoerr said: “It is a tremendous honor to be selected by the European Commission as member of the High Level Group focused on advancing innovation throughout the European Union.
“As one of the pioneering companies in mRNA therapeutics, CureVac is at the forefront of medical innovation, and I am delighted that our experience and leadership will benefit the next generation of European entrepreneurs who are seeking to improve the world through science.”
Dr Hoerr is joined in the High Level Group by entrepreneur and tech investor Nicklas Bergman, Steam Capital founder Martin Bruncko, Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave and Ludgate Hub chief executive Gráinne Dwyer.
Also appointed are Amadeus Capital Partners co-founder Hermann Maria Hauser, Plant-e founder Marjolein Helder, TransferWise chief executive Taavet Hinrikus and start-up expert Bindi Karia.
Governing board member of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology Jana Kolar joins, as does ebankIT chief executive Pathena Carlos Oliveira.
The remaining appointees are World Economic Forum board of trustees member Jim Hagemann Snabe, Experior Venture Fund founder Kinga Stanisławska, special envoy for StartupDelta Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau, and StationF chief executive Roxanne Varza.