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ABOUT

Judgement built over two careers.

Cognelis is a Paris firm that helps research institutions and their teams turn science into value — through spin-outs, licensing, and the strategy that gets them funded.

How we see it

The hardest moment for a research institution is not making the science. It is deciding what to do with it. A discovery can be brilliant and still fail as a venture — because the IP is thin, or it cannot be manufactured, or no one will pay for it, or the timing is wrong. Each of those lives in a different discipline, and they rarely sit in the same head. We were built to hold them together. One of us spent a career judging whether science and clinical evidence hold up; the other, whether a project can become a company that investors fund. Put side by side, those two views catch what a single adviser, however good, tends to miss. We work by two rules. Senior people do the work — you get the operators who built the experience, not a junior team practising on your project. And your science stays yours — the only thing we license is our own method, never your data or your results. We hold to that rule precisely because we also build ventures of our own: the line between what is ours and what is yours has to be clear from the first meeting.

Science confidence

Investment readiness

We test the evidence first, then build the route to a fundable decision.

The partners

Bernard L. Job, MD — Co-founder

Bernard spent more than three decades inside a global pharmaceutical company, where he led international development programmes, evaluated external technologies and partnerships, and worked across the scientific, regulatory and commercial decisions that determine whether a therapeutic programme can succeed. Today he brings that experience to the operator side, helping research institutions turn promising science into ventures and licensing opportunities that stand up to investor scrutiny. His question: does this science have a credible path to becoming a valuable company?

Andrei Zuzin, MBA — Co-founder and President

Andrei spent two decades in venture capital, seeing companies through the full path from first look and due diligence to structuring and exit — more than sixty-five investments across four funds. He built corporate venture and open-innovation programmes, and structured several spin-outs out of corporate research. He holds an MBA from Duke University (Fuqua School of Business), and now works on the operator side, building ventures himself. His question: can this become a company that investors will back?

Together, we have spent roughly fifty years evaluating science before capital commits. Today, we bring both perspectives to your side of the table.