Vivenics was one of the first companies to establish an office at Pivot Park ten years ago in 2012. The company became responsible for the Park’s IT infrastructure after the departure of MSD/Organon. Since then, Vivenics has become a well known and highly respected company in the consultancy of data integrity, cybersecurity and privacy – all essential in the field of data science. The head of Vivenics, Petrik Cuijpers explains how the company came to Pivot Park.

“Reliable data are the building blocks for successful data science”

“We started Vivenics after the departure of MSD/Organon. We had supported the IT of Research & Development at MSD. When it became known that MSD would leave Oss on 31 December 2011, we immediately began to prepare for this. So by January 1, 2012 we were able to get started right away.”

Initially, Vivenics was busy configuring the Pivot Park network so that all organisations could seamlessly connect to it. Cuijpers then began to offer specific application services to the new companies arriving at Pivot Park. Over the past decade, Vivenics has increasingly focused on ensuring data integrity and data protection in pharmaceutical labs: “The integrity of data is crucial for IP protection and for effective data science. Guarantees for safe storage and authorised access are essential in Research & Development, and to avoid data fraud. Reliable data are the building blocks of data science and Vivenics has the specialist know-how.”

Cuijpers explains that the verifiable original measurement data is of crucial importance, but that the storage and processing of this in smaller labs is often not addressed properly.

“So that data ends up in Excel sheets on an outdated computer system and can easily get corrupted. We see that the analysis of all raw data is becoming increasingly important, and that proper data management is essential. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, you can then search for patterns and combine company data with public data from a multitude of sources. “For example, if a company develops a new chemical compound. A streamlined set of algorithms can help you compare it with ‘similar compounds’ in public databases and in scientific publications. You may come across potential applications you had not considered in the first place. This provides guidance for follow-up research. We have helped a number of biotech companies to set up, organise and use a central database according to the acronym of FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable.”

Vivenics offers cybersecurity, data protection and software implementation consultancy services. Cuijpers continues, “We’re always looking for new employees and partnerships, but we don’t necessarily want to become a big company. We focus on quality of staff, business knowledge and customer satisfaction. Because of our knowledge and approach, especially startups and smaller biotech companies like those based on Pivot Park can really benefit from our services.” 

Vivenics has now grown to eleven permanent employees, six contractors and a broad network of established partners. When recruiting new staff, Cuijpers also tries to engage people who may have some distance to the labour market. “You may have to invest a little more time in supervision, but our experience has shown that it pays off.” Cuijpers sees the growth in the coming years mainly in more focused services and a broader customer portfolio. “We invest in long term relationships and we want to continue to grow at a sustainable pace.”

Vivenics maps out and optimises the business processes of biopharmaceutical R&D organisations. Improving the integrity of research data and the protection of personal clinical data. The company provides data science solutions to assist key decision making in the analysis of proprietary data in combination with large public data sets.