Trondheim-based fish-breeding firm AquaGen — which earned EUR 9 million in net profit on EUR 49 million in turnover last year — has promoted doctoral degree holder, Matias Medina, as its new director of science and technology.
“His main role will be to further strengthen R&Ds contribution to the innovation power, competitiveness and profitability across the Germany-based EW Groups aquaculture genetics companies,” a company communique on Thursday said.
Medina earned his doctoral degree in from the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture. He did his B.A. in Marine Sciences at the Catholic University in Norte, Chile.
AquaGen gains a former executive director of CIEN Austral, one of several of Chile’s centres for scientific and technological development. Medina also served as a manager at AVS Chile, a joint venture of the three Norwegian research centres NOFIMA, VESO and SINTEF.
More recently, he was managing Director of INTESAL, the salmon research institute of the Chilean salmon grower association, SalmonChile, an industry body that speaks for 80 percent of the country’s producers. Medina’s specialisation in genetics and genomics was put to good use as managing director of Blue Genomics, a Chilean company created within the framework of a USD 12 million, technology consortium co-funded by InnovaChile (CORFO) and three companies in the EW Group: AquaGen AS (Norway), AquaGen Chile and Vaxxinova Norway.
At Blue Genomics, Medina presided over all administrative and operational aspects of the company and the planning involved in applied-research breeding programs in Chile and Norway. He’ll also be expected to add value to all EW Group aquaculture genetics companies, including AquaGen Chile, Blue Genomics, AquaSearch, Genomar Genetics and Aquabel (Tilapia).
