From its start in 1983, the BIF has fostered a network of curious, ambitious, and open-minded people. The BIF community has developed through many face-to-face meetings during BIF seminars and conferences as well as other occasions. It is built on helpfulness and trust and about 90 % of our fellows stay in touch with us. Therefore, if fellows have questions, very likely, someone within the network can answer. After all, our more than 1,800 fellows and alumni pursue diverse career paths, e. g. in industry, biotech, patent law, consulting, as entrepreneurs, or, of course, in academia. Among the latter, we count about 385 professors or principal investigators.