BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
“It’s a way of crea Whether you’re a multinational or a small local farm, partnerships are always important. Small-scale dairy farmers in Cambodia and those working on major integration projects all know that farming is heavy going without the right network. GD is also in favour of looking at the possibilities together with partners. One of these partners is Elanco. Rinse Boersma discusses the partnership. “Joining forces takes you further.” Partnerships don’t arise by themselves, of course. For Rinse Boersma, Global Marketing Director at Elanco, GD was an old friend, so he knew exactly who to approach when Elanco was working on a new innovation strategy in Germany. “As a Dutchman in the veterinary field, you cannot ignore the knowl-
“As a Dutchman in the veterinary field, you cannot ignore the knowledge and expertise of GD” edge and expertise of GD. Ynte Schukken (CEO at Royal GD, ed.) helped us to design and implement a new innovation model. One of the things this model revealed was that we needed to forge partnerships, and had to search more widely than we had done before. Since that time, we’ve worked together with GD on various projects, from innovative model studies to field trials.” Conducting useful scientific research with animals, whether it concerns a model study or field trial, requires extensive knowledge and experience. It involves more than knowledge about a disease. A successful experimental design requires in-depth knowledge about both the target animals and the conditions in which animals are raised in practice. “GD has such expertise in-house, so it’s a valued partner in this field. Our partnership
8 - Update, April 2022
Rinse Boersma, Global Marketing Director at Elanco
involves more than the process of innovation, it also looks at projects already on the market,” says Rinse. Fruitful partnership GD offers Elanco additional knowledge and expertise, while Elanco offers GD a useful network and the ability to reach the world’s animals. “This all comes together nicely in the training sessions we purchase from GD,” says Rinse. “We bring col-
