Nicola is a management and investment professional, with a distinguished career and record of accomplishment in life sciences and clean tech industries. He has 16 years experience as a venture capital investor and was most recently the Executive Director of the Innovation Support Services at the University of Ottawa in Canada. In this capacity, he was responsible for technology transfer, spinning-off companies, as well as numerous innovation initiatives. Before that, he was a Director of Investments at CIC Capital Ventures, involved in shaping company strategies, and was a Board Director for seven portfolio companies, as well as participating in several early and growth financing rounds. Prior to CIC Capital Ventures, he was a Director of Strategic Projects and Commercialization at Génome Québec in support of translational research. His professional career began in 2001 at GeneChem Management Inc., where he was a Portfolio Director in four venture capital funds for over a decade. Nicola obtained his PhD in molecular genetics from McGill University in 1998, and an MBA from UQAM in Montréal in 2003. He now lives in Kenya and is passionate about translational research and innovation in Africa