Karl Collins

Director, Open Innovation and Ecosystems – Europe

Professional Background
I trained as a synthetic chemist and joined Bayer’s pharmaceutical division in 2014 as a medicinal chemistry lab head. In 2020 I became the first director of Bayer’s Science and Education Foundation, with a focus on developing cross-sector ecosystems as a driver for innovation. In 2022, I joined Bayer Crop Science as the Director of LifeHub Monheim – an innovation hub for Regenerative Agriculture – which I continue to be responsible for as part of my current role.

Karl’s thoughts about chemstars.nrw
“As innovation becomes increasing multifaceted and complex, something very apparent in the world of agriculture, we require the development of diverse and active ecosystems if we are to address the challenges we face both as an industry and society. Chemistry is fundamental to the transformation of agriculture and as we sit at the heartland of Europe’s chemical industry, chemstars provides the opportunity and character to grow and develop a thriving contemporary innovation ecosystem on the base of the historical strength of the region.”

What are the values that drive you?
Innovate over iterate; Team first; Be genuine.

How would you like to support the chemstars startups?
At Bayer, we want to provide knowledge and guidance from across our organization to support the growth and impact of startups in the chemical space. Personally, I would like to integrate the startups into our global innovation ecosystem to open unexpected doors and opportunities.

What’s the single most important piece of advice that you can give founders?
Listen to your customers and be flexible: provide them with what they need, not what you want.

What’s your vision for chemstars.nrw?
To be globally recognized as the leading European chemical innovation ecosystem.