Ulrich Betz

Ulrich Betz is vice president of innovation Merck. He is responsible for innovation management and strategic academic collaborations at Merck. He is an accomplished R&D manager with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, including positions in the president’s office Merck Biopharma and positions reporting directly to the heads of research and development at Bayer and Merck.

Ulrich received his PhD in functional genomics and immunology from the University of Cologne and his diploma in biochemistry and physiological chemistry from the University of Tübingen.

Ulrich has won several innovation awards such as the German Industry Innovation Award (the world’s oldest innovation award), two International Business Awards (Stevie Gold Awards Executive of the Year–Pharmaceuticals and Innovator of the Year), Stevie Gold Germany Award (R&D manager of the year Germany), Edison Award, the Bio IT world best practice award, and the German Idea Award.

Ulrich is author and co-author of about 90 publications and patents.