Eric Neumann, who has emerged as one of the leaders in the effort to apply Semantic Web technology to the life sciences and pharmaceutical industry, is joining Teranode Corporation, the company announced today.

Neumann was formerly global head of knowledge management for scientific and medical affairs at Sanofi-Aventis. He also worked at Beyond Genomics and NetGenics, among other companies in a 20-year career in bioinformatics, knowledge management, and semantic technologies. His new position will be senior director of product strategy, allowing him to focus on Semantic Web collaborations with partners in industry and academia, as well as standards bodies such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Neumann said: “This is a unique opportunity for me to work inside an award-winning software company, with the right combination of technologies and management experience to take advantage of the emerging Semantic Web. Teranode has the vision and breadth of products and services to drive fundamental improvements in the way life science companies use information technology, and will be the first company to offer Semantic Web-aware informatics products for the life sciences.”

In a statement, Teranode CEO Joe Duncan said: “Eric is uniquely qualified to help us shape and execute our Semantic Web initiatives.” Teranode, based in Seattle, Washington, is an innovator of experiment design automation (XDA) software for life sciences and biopharmaceutical organizations.
 
Teranode says it hopes to build momentum in driving the acceptance of Semantic Web standards and support their establishment into Life Sciences R&D as the next step in the evolution of informatics software by releasing several new technologies in 2006 featuring Semantic Web standards.

Neumann was featured in the cover story of the October 2005 issue of Bio-IT World, “Masters of the Semantic Web.”