“We won’t get anywhere with a 32-hour working week”

A whiff of entrepreneurial spirit drifted through the ballroom of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) when biochemist Norbert Bischofberger took the stage and spoke about his more than impressive career. Born in Mellau in the Bregenzerwald in 1956, ‘Nori’ was interested in chemistry from an early age, which led, among other things, to the village mailbox exploding during an experiment with black powder. Studied in Innsbruck, at ETH Zurich and at Harvard University. In the 1990s, the Vorarlberg resident built the largest biotech group in the US. Under his auspices, Gilead Sciences launched highly effective drugs against influenza, HIV and hepatitis C. Bischofberger estimates that 30 million people worldwide now benefit from this; his inventions also saved the lives of many.

At the age of 62, the great strategist against deadly viruses started again, “because I felt 42 and behaved like a 22-year-old,” he laughs. And in a completely different area. His startup ‘Kronos Bio’ conducts research into treatments for sarcoma, breast, ovarian and lung cancer.

Bischofberger’s scientific work was made possible by the unique infrastructure of the San Francisco Bay Area: easy access to venture capital and stock markets, an attractive climate, but above all the entrepreneurial mentality that he missed in Europe. “Risk is a positive thing in California, mistakes are accepted. There is a fundamental optimism that tomorrow will be better than today thanks to technology.” In Europe, bureaucracy and regulatory madness are slowing down the important work of excellent researchers. “When Chat GPT came out, people in the US said, Oh, that’s incredible! In Europe, the first reflex was how to regulate this new development.”

Bischofberger also did not spare his criticism of Austrian politics. The 32-hour work week is the wrong approach; it does not move the country forward. “The Austrian national anthem says work-happy and hopeful, not work-shy and hopeless.” Instead, the government should also invest more money in institutions such as the ÖWA, the IST in Klosterneuburg or the CeMM in the Vienna General Hospital. as in basic research, “because they secure its future and its standard of living.”

Speaking of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Bischofberger is also a member of the board of directors of a company that uses artificial intelligence in genetic research. ‘Gingko’ does not feed the AI ​​with languages ​​or images, as Chat GPT does, for example, but with DNA sequences. In the future, this will greatly accelerate research work as AI will have access to 2.7 billion such DNA sequences from humans, animals, plants, bacteria and viruses. This is particularly relevant for cancer and antibody research.

Could AI have also figured out what it managed to do as a researcher? “No,” says Bischofberger, “AI can only find exactly what people are looking for. But in research we look for something that we don’t yet know what it could be.”