Simon Best

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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.

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.'

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 and being a shareholder of Spiked Ltd.

Science Media Centre role

Best donated an unspecified sum to the Science Media Centre in around 2005. He was listed as a current funder of the SMC in Spring that year.

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:

• 'Scientific community' - CEO, Ardana Bioscience Ltd (14 May 2002)
• 'Scientist' - Chairman of the BIA (BioIndustry Association) Scotland (14 February 2003)
• 'Scientist' - Chair of Biotechnology Industry Association in Scotland (21 April 2004)

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.