Helga Céster

In line with the multinational environment of BALDER, Helga grew up in a multinational environment, in her case, half German, half Spanish; born in Madrid, from a Spanish father and a German mother. German was her first language, and at first no child on the playground understood her, since she spoke “strangely”, but soon she also took up her native country’s language.

She received her education at the German School of Madrid, where she obtained both the German and the Spanish degree, with distinguished marks.  It was there that she discovered her passion for natural sciences, especially chemistry and biology, which led her to study Chemical Sciences at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Autonomous University of Madrid). At the end of the degree, she felt that she was missing some business vision, so during the following year she studied an MBA, specialized in industrial companies, at Escuela de Organización Industrial (School of Industrial Organization). It was during this MBA that she had her first contact with Intellectual Property, which led her to start an internship in one of the most important Intellectual Property firms in Spain in the year 2000; this firm quickly recognized Helga’s worth and offered her an indefinite contract as patent technician responsible for the chemical area long before completing her internship.

In 2004, after 4 years at this firm, the opportunity came up to get to know “the other side”: the industry. She could not refuse. This was how she joined the Zeltia Group, today named PharmaMar Group, assuming the functions of Manager of Intellectual Property of one of the group’s subsidiaries, Neuropharma, taking charge of the management and growth of its patent, trademark and internet domain portfolios. In close cooperation with the research & development & innovation and Business Development departments, she was involved not only in the drafting and processing of its patent applications, trademark processing and domain requests, but also in international Due Diligence processes, in the review of all kinds of contracts, the control of publications, the application for International Nonproprietary Names of drugs in development …during this period of her life, in the year 2007, she managed to obtain the so much desired European Patent Attorney title, in fact she was the first woman in Madrid to pass the Qualifying Examination.

In 2012 Helga opted for a new project and chose to become part of a small and select cast that would lead to the establishment of one of the most important German Intellectual Property offices in Spain, through a subsidiary. There, besides performing the usual duties of a European Patent Attorney, she had to be involved in many of the steps necessary to start a new business, starting from finding a suitable office to carrying out the project, down to selecting, educating and training the support staff. The company started to grow, and so did its level of activity, which started to be frantic; in 2014, this led her to finally get off the train, once properly put on track, since it was impossible to balance her family life (with 2 children under 4 at that time) with her career.

After some time working as a freelancer, Helga decided to return to the world of Intellectual Property firms in 2017, joining BALDER. With a feeling of “coming back home”, Helga could not resist the temptation to join a team with which she, largely, had already worked in the IP firm where she began her professional career.

In addition to her versatility in terms of languages (with proficiency in Spanish, German and English), Helga contributes to BALDER with her triple vision of IP firm/ Industry/Consultancy, which is most useful in her customer interactions, facing the challenges proposed by clients with interest, understanding and empathy; in fact, she keeps friendships with former clients, which shows her good “chemistry” with customers.

In her free time, she likes to spend as much time as possible with her family and enjoys hobbies as diverse as gardening (including her own tomato harvest), reading, photography, DIY projects or sewing; she also loves travelling, and when possible (sometimes it becomes challenging with small children), she combines it with the practice of diving.