btS e.V. – A success story through the ages

An important milestone in the history of btS e.V. was the launch of ScieMatch in March 2021. This innovative digital platform revolutionised the way life sciences students find potential employers. ScieMatch uses an intelligent algorithm that matches students with suitable companies based on their skills, interests and expectations. Try out the matching tool here. 

When it became apparent in spring 2020 that the ScieCon Frankfurt career fair scheduled for June would not be able to take place as planned, the organising team decided to hold ScieCon digitally. No sooner said than done – and how: ScieCon was converted to a digital format in just two and a half months, expanded to include a career day for the first time, and attracted over 1,000 visitors over two days. Three more equally successful digital fairs followed in 2020 and 2021.

In 2020, btS – Biotechnological Student Initiative e.V. became btS – Life Sciences Student Initiative e.V.

The new name is not only gender-neutral, but also reflects the diversity of our members' fields of study, which extend far beyond biotechnology.

This year, Munich hosted the 30th ScieCon, a career event for graduates. 

In 2017, the number of btS members exceeded the milestone of 1,000 members, spread across 26 offices in Germany. This makes btS Germany's largest student initiative in the life sciences. With many local and nationwide events each year, it provides students and doctoral candidates in the life sciences with a wide range of insights into research and future career fields.

The btS Alumni Association was founded on the occasion of btS's 20th anniversary. Now, motivated btS students can continue to get involved and maintain their network even after completing their training. The btS Alumni work closely with btS and support young btS students as they start their careers. 

In collaboration with cooperation partners, we have been offering certified GxP training courses on ‘good working practices’ throughout Germany since 2015. In this way, we make a valuable contribution to further education and career preparation for students, doctoral candidates and graduates.

Internal knowledge transfer is a high priority at btS. Since 2012, all new members have been offered a basic workshop in which they learn the most important fundamentals about btS and the association's work. In addition to the basic workshops, all btS members can attend topic-specific workshops and receive targeted training for specific projects, e.g. in project management or marketing. Today, our members can take advantage of further training opportunities through the nationwide trainer network in the VDSI.

Comm4Biotech is a two-day symposium that was first organised in 2011 by btS Heidelberg and the French initiative Nouvelle Génération des Biotechnologistes (NGB) in Strasbourg. The theme of the event, which was repeated in Heidelberg in 2013, was science communication and the question of how scientists, politicians and the public can communicate with each other.

In 2016, Comm4Biotech was continued by btS in Heidelberg under the name Comm4Science.

Exchanging ideas with other student initiatives, including those outside the life sciences, is important to us. That is why we have been a member of the Association of German Student Initiatives (VDSI) (formerly known as the ‘Kölner Runde’) since 2010. The VDSI e.V. was officially founded as a registered association in 2014.

ScieKickIn is a football tournament organised by the btS office in Munich. It is a sporting competition on small pitches, to which biotech companies and life sciences institutes and departments from the Munich region are invited. Above all, the focus is on having fun. By bringing together university staff and company employees to play together, the tournament strengthens the sporting ties between universities and industry in Munich.

Our first company contact fair, Science Contact – ScieCon for short – in Bochum was attended by 600 students. Since then, ScieCon, which takes place twice a year, has developed into the largest career fair for students, doctoral candidates and graduates in the life sciences.

After opening its first four branches in North Rhine-Westphalia, the company made its breakthrough in 1999, with the btS spirit spreading to distant locations such as Freiburg, Hamburg, Munich and Würzburg.

As part of the BioRegio competition organised by the state initiative BioGenTec, seven doctoral students developed the idea of founding the first student initiative in the biotech sector. Thus, in 1996, the Biotechnologische Studenteninitiative e.V. (btS) was founded in Cologne. Soon afterwards, the btS spirit spread throughout Germany, with 21 offices today.