Simon Best

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LM network resources

Simon Best is a 'serial entrepreneur' working in venture capital and pharmaceuticals. He is is CEO of Aquapharm Ltd, a marine biotechnology company, Chairman of the University of Edinburgh’s BioQuarter initiative and Program Committee Chair of the International Potato Center.[1]

Best 'built three substantial ventures as founding CEO between 1991 and 2005: Zeneca Plant Science, Roslin BioMed, and Ardana. Between 2005 and 2010 he built a portfolio of chair, board, and advisory roles with biotech companies, investors, and public sector bodies in Europe, the USA, and India. He was the Chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) from 2006-2007 and Vice-Chairman of BIO in the USA from 1994-96.'[1]

In 2001, Best joined the Board of ICRISAT and served as Chair from 2006 to 2008. In 2008, Best was appointed to the CIP Board.

Best received his Bachelor of Music from the University of York in 1977 and his MBA from London Business School in 1985. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary PhD from the University of York. In 2007, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). In June 2008, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was made an Honorary Professor of Medicine by the University of Edinburgh.

Connections and views

LM network connections

Best is associated with the libertarian anti-environmental LM network, having written for Spiked [2] [3] and being a shareholder of Spiked Ltd. [4]

Science Media Centre role

Best donated an unspecified sum to the Science Media Centre in 2003 and 2004 according to the SMC.[5]

The Science Media Centre has cited Best on a number of occasions in its public relations releases. In these citations he was referred to as follows:

It appears, however, that Best is not a scientist in the sense that his first degree (in music) and his Masters (in Business) were not in scientific disciplines.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 International Potato Center Simon Best, Accessed 7 July 2013
  2. "Don’t neglect Biotech", Spiked website, May/June 2009, accessed 29 May 2010
  3. Simon Best The scientific method, and the basic statistical tools that support it, Spiked, May/June 2005.
  4. Companies House, Spiked Ltd. AR01 Annual Return 2010
  5. Data from Internet Archive holdings of the Science Media Centre website, 2002-2013.
  6. Science Media Centre, Scientific community responds to GeneWatch UK report MAY 14, 2002
  7. Science Media Centre Scientists comment on death of Dolly the sheep Post date GMT: 2003-02-14 00:00:00
  8. Science Media Centre Scientists respond to 'Mice Without a Father' paper published in Nature Post date GMT: 2004-04-21 00:00:00