In 1968, the moon was discovered as a travel destination and revolution was recognized not as a result of hardship and misery but of dissatisfaction with circumstances. Also in tranquil Ilvesheim, close to Heidelberg, visions of the future were conceived. Ewald Barth discovered the world of quality reagents as a commodity for research and as a source for launching BIOMOL. It has been 40 years since: The moon is today once more beheld rather at long range and revolutions are in Germany plotted by locomotive drivers.
In other areas at the end of the sixties, things were going on that were far more revolutionary. The world wide web, then having been developed as a product of the cold war, today links the Indian student to the Australian housewife. In 1968, Werner Arber from Switzerland discovered restriction enzymes that cut DNA molecules at defined sites. He thus provided the crucial instrument for the take-off of genetic engineering. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1978 for his work.
Today, "biotech" is an established term. While IT business has lived through a crash, the world of researchers and reagents is steadily advancing at an amazing pace. Apart from regular changes (Manfred Konnertz goes into well-deserved retirement in 2006, Dr Eckhard Renken takes over as managing director of BIOMOL), the growing dynamics of this economic branch are also being felt in Hamburg. Companies are being taken over, join forces, new companies emerge, and globalization is not a catchword but daily routine. In Hamburg Altona, nontheless, Biomol remains grounded. There is no need of a crystal palace as a signal of growth: the company is being expanded to two floors, the sales team is being extended, and the sales platform for the by now 80.000 products is being brought up to global standards via inter- and intranet. Apart from that, we do what we have always done: a good job.
Thus, in the long run, evolution has an edge over revolution. This does not mean we disregard revolution. Revolution creates the novel and we look for the novel. But revolutions lack steadiness which is also key to us- for at least another 40 years.
Germany
