Simon Waddington

Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Dr. Waddington serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence where he is involved in building startup companies across the spectrum of the life sciences. He serves as the President and CEO of Abunda Corporation, a Burrill incubated start-up company that exploits current capabilities in biosynthesis, synthetic biology and nutritional science.

 

Previously, he spent more than a decade as a venture capitalist. He was a Managing Partner at PolyTechnos Venture-Partners based in Munich, Germany where he led and supported investments in numerous life science and materials-related companies across Europe, Israel, and the United States. Prior to that, he started and ran Monsanto’s European corporate venturing activities from Brussels, Belgium, Product Development Manager in the UK for Zeneca’s biopolymers business, which pioneered the fermentation-based production of biodegradable polymers from renewable feedstocks. He also served as a Senior Research Scientist for ICI specializing in surface and interface science: his work on the development and advancement of surface analysis methods led to a long-standing interest in nanoscience and he was a co-founder of the European NanoBusiness Association and served on its Advisory Board.  

 

He holds a Ph.D. in physics and an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS). He is a former board member of the German HBS Alumni Association and currently serves as an International Alumni Ambassador for Liverpool University