Sr.JN Lemoene Smit Managing Director, LIMS analyst Bika Labs

Lemoene Smit is a LIMS analyst and software development and implementation project manager with 25 years experience in IT, mostly at scientific institutions. Lemoene is a founder of the Bika Open Source LIMS project where he's been at the helm for the past 10 years.

Lemoene graduated in 1984 with a B.Sc. in physics and applied mathematics from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, before starting a career as scientific programmer at the Magnetic Observatory, an institute of the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He added Information Systems & Computer Science B.Sc. majors from the University of South Africa to his degree in this period, while tending to the analysis and numerical processing of SA National Antarctic Expedition data and the integration of magnetic field survey and aero-magnetic data.

Later he held scientific IT positions at the Department of Water Affairs in Namibia and in geology and petroleum exploration at Petrosa in Cape Town. A stint in commercial IT saw him in leadership positions on the ING Barings Treasury's Euro-conversion and Y2K teams in Amsterdam from 1998 to 2000. 

After a sabbatical, on his return to South Africa, Lemoene founded Bika Lab Systems in association with Inus Scheepers (M. Eng. Electronic, Member IEEE, IEEE Computer Society and the ISOC) when they identified a need for affordable and easy to use information systems and instrument interfaces for small and medium size laboratories. Bika Lab Systems sponsors and co-ordinates the Bika open source LIMS project, committed to keeping the Bika code free and maintaining effective organisational support.

Lemoene, as managing director, with the help of Inus as technical director, remains central to developing the company, now positioned as complete service provider for all of the LIMS implementation life cycle - requirements analysis, design, customisation and development, project management and quality control, documentation, systems integration, administration, hosting,  training and support. Bika continues to deliver innovative designs, reliable systems and quality support for all laboratories big and small.

The Bika Open Source community achieved critical mass with close on 300 participants subscribed to its forums, providing valuable inputs and feedback. In 2008 it produced another off-shoot, the Bika Health Foundation, registered not for profit, as the custodians of the Bika Health LIMS intellectual property, committed to keeping the program code freely available and nurturing the Bika Health LIMS community.