Our history

Privately held since 1989, IDBS joined Danaher’s Life Sciences platform at the end of 2017. IDBS helps provide the foundation for a portfolio of life sciences informatics and knowledge management solutions, that accelerate the speed of discovering, developing and producing new drugs and therapies. Find out more…

1989

The beginning

IDBS was founded by Neil Kipling, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in 1989. IDBS started out as a niche IT consultancy provider.

1994

ActivityBase release

IDBS released ActivityBase, a platform for screening data management. The software is still used by the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

2003

Queen's Award double win

IDBS received two Queen’s Awards for Innovation and International Trade. IDBS also became the first vendor in the drug discovery data management sector to receive the International Standards Organisation’s ISO 9001:2000 and TickIT certifications.

2005

IDBS Acquires Deffinity

IDBS acquired Deffinity, one of the first Electronic Lab Notebook providers.

2009

InforSense acquisition

IDBS acquired InforSense, an industry leader in business intelligence tools including business intelligence software & predictive analytics tools.

2010

Quantrix acquisition

IDBS acquired Portland-based Quantrix, a provider of business modelling and analytics software and services.

2010

Profit Track 100 Company recognition

IDBS was recognized in The Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 league table, which ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their latest three years.

2011

Frost & Sullivan Award

IDBS received the 2010 Frost & Sullivan Enabling Technology of the Year award for best R&D Knowledge Management Solution.

2011

Third Queen's Award

IDBS received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its outstanding business success in growing revenues from international markets.

2014

Munich office

IDBS established its presence in Europe with the opening of its office in Munich, Germany.

2015

Paris office

IDBS expanded its footprint in Continental Europe with the launch of a full-service office in Paris, France.

2017

The E-WorkBook Cloud release

IDBS marked a new chapter in the company’s history by releasing The E-WorkBook Cloud, an enterprise, cloud-based platform designed to meet the future challenges of scientific and R&D data management.

2017

National Technology Award

The IDBS E-WorkBook Cloud was Cloud Product of the Year at the prestigious national awards, which celebrate the leaders of pioneering technology to help drive standards and encourage excellence within the industry.

2017

Danaher acquisition

IDBS was acquired by the Danaher Group and joined their Life Sciences platform in late October 2017. IDBS will help provide the foundation for a portfolio of life sciences informatics and knowledge management solutions that will accelerate the speed of discovering, developing and producing new drugs and therapies.

2020

Launch of New Branding

IDBS launches its new brand

2020

Launch of IDBS Polar

IDBS introduces the world’s first cloud-based BioPharma Lifecycle Management System: IDBS Polar

2021

Skyland Analytics Acquisition

IDBS acquires biopharmaceutical manufacturing data management and analytics software developer Skyland Analytics

Find out more

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