NGI 2002 - 2007

2008

• NGI enters its second phase and is granted funds mounting to
  € 280 million by the Dutch government. Sixteen Genomics Centres receive valorisation funding. Five new Genomics Centres have joined the group.
• Dr Colja Laane is appointed director. He will lead the implementation of the NGI Business Plan 2008-2012. Mr Laane succeeds Diederik Zijderveld.
• NGI shifts its focus to valorisation. The NGI Valorisation Award
  of € 1 million is won by a consortium of five NGI Centres in the city of Leiden.
• The first edition of the NGI Venture Challenge takes place, stimulating entrepreneurship with scientists.
• NGI establishes the Valorisation Advisory Board, a multinational board of leading scientists that help NGI valorise scientific results.

2007

• Business Plan 2008 - 2012 is approved by Dutch government, NGI is granted funds amounting to € 271 million for its second phase
• Two new consortiums are established as part of the Business Plan: Netherlands Consortium for Systems Biology and Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands
• NGI research news has attracts general media attention with headlines in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune
• NGI, TNO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences sign Memorandum of Understanding on start of a joint research centre: The Sino-Dutch Centre for Preventive and Personalised Medicine

2006

• Extensive consultation round with universities, industry, societal organisations and government departments results in NGI’s Strategic Plan 2008-2012
• International Science Review of NGI Genomics Centres leads to very positive conclusions: all Centres score ‘very good, internationally prominent’ to ‘excellent, globally leading’
• Valorisation Review provides useful leads for follow-up valorisation strategy
• NGI initiates Netherlands Metabolomics Centre (NMC)
• NGI and NWO set up BioGeneration Ventures to support start-up companies in bridging the present ‘equity gap’
  

2005

• Mid-term review of NGI generates positive result
• Conclusions and recommendations of the mid-term review are used to produce a Vision 2008 - 2012
• Five new projects honoured by IOP Genomics
• Three Innovative Genomics Clusters funded; two on toxicogenomics and one on milk genomics

2004

• First results from NGI consortia are emerging (including patent applications, applications in the clinic and spin-off companies)
• Website www.watisgenomics.nl (in Dutch) is launched; aimed at informing the general public on genomics
• Start Centre for Society and Genomics  
• GenomiX magazine is distributed amongst 700.000 high-school students aged 12 - 14: response is very positive
• First-ever international conference on “Genomics and Alternatives to Animal Use” takes place in Maastricht, The Netherlands
• Start Netherlands Toxicogenomics Centre (NTC)
• IOP Genomics receives positive evaluation and enters second phase
• Start international Potato Genomics Sequencing Consortium (PGSC) by NGI and Wageningen University and Research Centre
• The preparatory NORSAGE project is successful; full ERA-net proposal is honoured. Start ERA SAGE

2003

• € 86 million Bsik funding awarded to two Technology Centres; Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre (NBIC) and Netherlands Proteomics Centre (NPC) and four Innovative Clusters; Celiac Disease Consortium (CDC), Ecogenomics Consortium, Nutrigenomics Consortium and VIRGO
• Start Horizon programme to stimulate young researchers and ‘wild’ ideas, first call generates 125 proposals of which 13 are honoured
• Start GeNeYouS; Genomics Network for Young Scientists
• Start Fellowship programme
• Two NGI -coordinated European initiatives (ERA-net) are selected by the European Commission: ERA PG (Plant Genomics) and ERA NORSAGE (Societal Aspects of Genomics) 
• Six proposals honoured by IOP Genomics
  

2002

• NGI is established as an independent taskforce to set up a world-class genomics infrastructure (Budget € 195 million)
• International panels of experts select four Genomics Centres of Excellence: Cancer Genomics Centre (CGC), Centre for BioSystems Genomics (CBSG), Centre for Medical Systems Biology (CMSB) and Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation
• Preparations started for two national centres on bioinformatics and proteomics
• Proposals for Technology Centres and Innovative Clusters submitted for additional funding (Bsik subsidy)
• Research programme “The Societal Component of Genomics Research” is incorporated in NGI