Biopartner Leiden | Scala Scientific

The Biopartner Leiden foundation was founded about 20 years ago. Biopartner Leiden's goal is to provide starting entrepreneurs in the life sciences the facilities they need to fully focus on their own core business: research and development of medicines and vaccines. The Biopartner Center Leiden is therefore a collective building in which office space and laboratory facilities can be rented. For example, this offers startups, students or professors the opportunity to discover whether certain ideas are viable without major investment in a building or lab.

Biopartner Leiden and Scala Scientific have been working together for some time. In this way they try to contribute to scientific research in the Netherlands.

Biopartner Leiden offers flexible office and laboratory facilities

Loyal partners

Michel Keijzer, Commercial Director Scala Scientific: “There are several very nice elements to the collaboration with Biopartner Leiden. For example, Biopartner Leiden has been a customer from the very beginning, so for about 12.5 years. I even know the contact person, Martien Hogewoning, for 20 years. An honest and loyal partner. It's great that we've been able to do business for so long.

In addition, the entire initiative and goal of Biopartner Leiden appeals to me. It supports starting entrepreneurs and thus makes an essential contribution to the development of medicines and vaccines.

What makes it special is that Biopartner Leiden is not just another customer of Scala Scientific who only buys something. The tenant base of Biopartner Leiden naturally also includes other (potential) customers of Scala Scientific. Partly due to the good relationship with Biopartner Leiden, we work with several of their tenants. This indicates that there is a lot of confidence.”

Martien Hogewoning, Facility Manager Biopartner Leiden: “I have now been working at Biopartner Leiden for 16 years, at the moment I am responsible for everything that has to do with operations. At Biopartner Leiden we house around 85 companies, divided over 5 collective buildings. These vary in size from 1 to 100 employees. About 35 of these companies do something with laboratories and related equipment. We offer the possibility to rent space on a small scale (in terms of space) and possibly for short periods. For many of these companies this is a godsend. Of all comparable initiatives in the Netherlands, Biopartner Leiden is by far the largest.

Biopartner Leiden also provides the basic facilities required for a laboratory. This includes -80 freezers and ice flake machines. These are available in every department. We purchased and maintained these -80 freezers and ice flake machines at Scala Scientific.

As already indicated by Michel, the collaboration is made unique because a number of our tenants (customers) are also customers of Scala Scientific. In that respect, even to a much greater extent than Biopartner Leiden.”

''The collaboration is unique because a number of our tenants are also customers of Scala Scientific''

No reason to look any further

Martien: “As so often, the strength of the collaboration lies in its simplicity. It is straightforward with good deliveries and high-quality maintenance. That is also one of the reasons why we have been working with Scala Scientific for so long. You can buy something, but with laboratory equipment you also need someone who can do something with it if anything breaks. In other words, the party that sells must also be able to repair. An incidental trip to another supplier proved this once again, which ended in a fiasco. With Scala Scientific, we have the party that offers us both high-quality laboratory equipment and high-quality maintenance. Of course, this also applies to our customers.

If I had to recommend Scala Scientific on a scale of 1 – 10 it would definitely be an 8.5. The only drawback is the delivery times. However, this is currently a global challenge that affects everyone. With Scala Scientific we are assured of good quality and proper maintenance on the one hand, and we have always had a good relationship on the other. Then there is no reason to look any further.”

Michel: “We also very much appreciate the collaboration with Biopartner Leiden and Martien. It is great to see that, thanks to Biopartner Leiden, startups are given the opportunity to research their ideas. As Scala Scientific, we are happy to contribute to this. We are flexible and willing to think along with (the customers of) Biopartner Leiden. Knowledge and budget are often still limiting factors, especially for starting companies. Then it is nice to work with a party that already has experience with this. For example, Scala Scientific thinks about whether a company needs an entire freezer and about the availability of an ex-demo model. These are just a few examples of how we try to help.

In the end, it gives great satisfaction when some of these companies manage to make a big leap. This also offers the opportunity to grow together. After all, due to growth, more laboratory equipment is often needed, which we can help with. In this way you contribute to the development of each other. In that respect, this is an interface between Biopartner Leiden and Scala Scientific. We are both there for start-ups in life sciences, now and in the future.

Assured of good quality and maintenance

About the client

Biopartner Leiden is a non-profit organisation that provides starting entrepreneurs with facilities in ''life sciences'', so they can focus on their own core business: research and development of medicines and vaccines.