boosting innovation in life sciences - in2lifesciences
TRANSCRIPT
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16 SUCCESS STORIESPRESENTED BY IN2LIFESCIENCES, DECEMBER 2014
BOOSTING INNOVATIONIN LIFE SCIENCESHOW IN2LIFESCIENCES ACCELERATES THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SMES IN NORTHWEST EUROPE
www.in2lifesciences.eu
Watch our project video, explaining how IN2LifeSciences accelerates the achievement of SMEs in northwest Europe.
Project officeSponsors
Partners
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Boosting innovation in life sciences
Accelerating innovation processesWe, the IN2LifeSciences partnership, are proud to share the results of our project with you. For more than two years, representatives of eight life sciences clusters have worked together closely to help SMEs innovate across borders, speed up their business processes and facilitate lasting relationships. We are happy to report that through a clear focus on the real issues that SMEs face, the project has been able to produce concrete results and has demonstrated great efficiency in doing so.
Supported by Interreg 4B NWE and other financers, this project contributes to a more cohesive EU society because it is based on the cooperation of people from different countries to work on Life Sciences and Medical Technology innovations that touch the lives of citizens in northwest Europe. The project helps SMEs gain access to organisations abroad with the tools, expertise or resources needed to overcome their innovation bottlenecks. To facilitate these processes the project has organized market access webinars, workshops, events and four calls for proposals.
INTERREG IVB NWE is a financial instrument of the European Union’s Cohesion Policy. It funds projects which support transnational cooperation. INTERREG’s aim is to find innovative ways to make the most of territorial assets and tackle the shared problems of member states, regions and other authorities.
IN2LifeSciences provided:• Easy-to-obtain financial incentives (worth €500, €4000 and €7000) that help
SMEs begin collaborations with relevant experts, facilities or investors abroad• Transnational elevator pitch events to help SMEs access foreign investors• International brokerage workshops and open innovation events to help
SMEs find relevant organizations to collaborate with• An online directory of relevant facilities and experts in the eight
IN2LifeSciences regions• Market access webinars• An Access Broker Network: single points of contact for each region, serving
as easy-to-reach entry points to experts, facilities and funding abroad.
All calls for incentives have now ended. In total 151 SMEs have been working on projects with 83 providers from another region. 75 Collaboration incentives and 45 Insight incentives were executed. 108 Meet & Greet incentives were approved for SMEs visiting organisations or SMEs in another region.
This brochure contains 16 examples of best practices for cross-border collaboration to date. We hope you enjoy reading about the impact of this European Interreg programme.
Best regards,The IN2LifeSciences partnership
After positive experiences within the Fasilis project (stimulating facility sharing in life sciences with the help of incentives), the consortium decided to move onwards with another project and several new partners. The result was IN2LifeSciences: eight leading Life Sciences regions in northwest Europe collaborating to provide SMEs with transnational access to organizations with tools, expertise or resources to overcome their innovation bottlenecks.
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Table of contents
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Case Region / Project Page
France - ID2Santé 01 Mensia Technologies develops new EEG applications with TMSi ............................................................................................................ 06 02 Syneika opens avenues in Germany with support from IN2LifeSciences ................................................................................................ 07
France - Atlanpole Biotherapies 03 Effiskipper researches Belgian market ........................................................................................................................................................ 08 04 First preliminary results after clinical study ............................................................................................................................................... 09
Germany - BioRegio STERN 05 Establishing a high-throughput assay for an Elisa Protocol ......................................................................................................................10 06 Packaging design for an Intervertebral Cage ...............................................................................................................................................11
Germany - BiomeTI 07 A springboard for new developments ...........................................................................................................................................................12 08 Cinogy takes first steps into Danish market ...............................................................................................................................................13
Belgium - Interface Entreprises ULG 09 Bringing regional skills to an European level ...............................................................................................................................................14 10 KitoZyme benefits from Nutraveris ..............................................................................................................................................................15
Denmark - Biopeople 11 epiZell and BioSIMS in collaboration project ................................................................................................................................................16 12 CiToxLAB Scantox gains access to Germany .................................................................................................................................................17
The Netherlands - Noord-Brabant Development Agency 13 Market entry research for dementia insights ..............................................................................................................................................18 14 Market & regulatory research study .............................................................................................................................................................19
The Netherlands - Oost N.V. & Health Valley 15 Certification of revolutionary therapy for liver cancer patients ............................................................................................................... 20 16 Improving molecular assay development .................................................................................................................................................... 21
Results and conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................................ 22
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Mensia Technologies is a French start-up (2012). It develops software applications for the monitoring and real-time analysis of brain signals recorded through Electroencephalo - graphy (EEG). With the support of IN2LifeSciences, Mensia recently engaged in a new collaboration with TMSi, a Dutch designer of electrophysiological data acquisition devices for EEG and Electromyography (EMG).
The software applications of Mensia are mainly designed for institutes involved in real-time neuroscience research and for EEG headset designers and manufacturers. The software has medical applications for chronic diseases such as insomnia or as an alternative to current treatments for children with attention deficit disorder. Mensia CEO Jean-Yves Quentel explains: ”TMSi offers high quality electric activity amplifiers to record brain signals within scientific and medical conditions. Our fields of expertise are highly complementary.”
”It was a great opportunity for us to benefit from the financial incentive,” he adds. ”We built up a trusting relationship with TMSi and we are now contemplating other collaborative projects. We would otherwise not have engaged in such a big project, but this incentive allowed us to take a successful first step.”
01Company
Mensia Technologies
ContactJean-Yves Quente
ProviderTMSi
It took a few months to raise awareness of the IN2LifeSciences program among the SMEs in our region, but once the message got through, the enquiries poured in. Traditionally, our job has been to support organisations – especially SMEs – in their projects, linking them with French partners to help them develop innovative products in the health sector. IN2LifeSciences now allows us to offer even more opportunities, by sourcing cutting-edge expertise outside of France. This has also enabled us to share the expertise present within our region more widely, by working with businesses in other areas of northwest Europe.
This project enables SMEs to take a first step towards working in Europe; a process that often seems complex. Even the thought of a European project sometimes appears overwhelming to certain small businesses. In IN2LifeSciences they see a flexible and lightweight solution, one that provides a quick way to implement technological solutions or to unlock access to markets.
The participating companies have emphasized the effectiveness: the network of access brokers makes it much easier to obtain the right expertise at the right time.
Céline Queron [email protected]
France - ID2Santé
Mensia Technologies develops new EEG applications with TMSi
Regional Access Broker
”We built up a trusting relationship and are contemplating other collaborations.”
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Syneika opens avenues in Germany with support from IN2LifeSciencesFrench SME Syneika designs and manufactures medical devices for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). It designed the neuronavigator Syneika One, which guides doctors to adapt treatments to the needs of each individual patient. TMS offers an alternative to existing treatments for depression and chronic pain amongst other conditions.
In the coming months, Syneika will participate in several trade fairs across Germany to start tackling the market there, as Business Manager Vincent de Couesbouc explains: ”Syneika has been interested in the German market for some time. The IN2LifeSciences incentive was a timely opportunity for strategic decision making”.
Through the IN2LifeSciences programme, Syneika enlisted the help of a German consultant with a background in Neurosurgery. His insights, along with direct feedback from German physicians, helped the firm to develop an understanding of Germany’s national health care system and to position their product.
02Company
Syneika
ContactVincent de Couesbouc
ProviderSKC Beratung-
gesellschaft GmbH
Participants
SMEs Health Pure Tech Syneika Kaptalia Monitoring Yslab Elementa Food
Ingredients BA Healthcare Viviane lab Diafir Medventiv Claripharm HPC Pharma Pharmaouest
Industries NG Biotech C.Ris Pharma Hemarina Anaximandre Aroma Celte C et J Durrmann Isinov Biotrial
Pharmacology Alyacom Mensia
Technologies
Providers Biogenouest
Genomics ICIbio Anaximandre Mensia
Technologies Biotrial Eurosafe Nutraveris Hemarina KISSf Evosens University Hospital
of Rennes
”IN2LifeSciences incentive: a timely opportunity for strategic decision making.”
”We built up a trusting relationship and are contemplating other collaborations.”
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Effiskipper researches Belgian marketFrench healthcare consultancy Effiskipper wanted to offer its services (consulting, project management and training services for Continuous Improvement projects, Risk Management and guidance in building Quality Assurance approaches) to the Belgian market. For this, the company needed to conduct an in-depth analysis to identify trends, business development opportunities and potential partnerships related to the use of their Effilab service.
The market study needed to retain a focus on biological analysis laboratories, whilst also addressing the wider market of SMEs active in the Biotechnology, Pharma and Health. Specific issues needed to be addressed to ensure the future sales success of Effiskipper in Belgium, especially regarding quality and regulatory specifications, along with the validation of needs for Belgian labs to optimise their processes. Identification of key contact persons was also an important part of the insight requested by Effiskipper to start their sales activities.
Bertrand Baudez, Effiskipper CEO, summarises the process of receiving support from IN2LifeSciences as ”easy, effective and SME focused.”
03Company
Effiskipper
ContactBertrand Baudez
ProviderStratex Consulting
France - Atlanpole Biotherapies
Regional Access Broker
Signs of potentialIN2LifeSciences has certainly been an excellent tool for internationalisation of our SMEs for both Sales and R&D perspectives. From all the collaborations that have already been initiated within IN2LifeSciences, it’s clear that several of them could well turn into larger HORIZON 2020 projects involving companies and experts from our network.
Grégory Bauer [email protected]
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”This project has given us the opportunity to begin a collaboration with European experts.”
First preliminary results after clinical studyNEOSTEO is an innovative French startup specialised in the development, production and marketing of advanced implant solutions aimed at simplifying orthopaedic and trauma surgery. NEOSTEO offers a smart implant line of osteotomy solutions to treat knee arthrosis deformities. The SME looked for a collaboration partner, to evaluate its FlexitSystem by measuring both the stability and strength of high tibial osteotomy.
The FlexitSystem is shorter and thinner than traditional solutions, which can potentially reduce the discomfort felt by patients and may even eliminate the necessity of implant removal after surgery. NEOSTEO wanted to check the primary stability of the system during the osteotomy reconstruction period. To that effect, they performed tests with Dutch experts from the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, allowing the company to acquire the first preliminary results with their product.
Guillaume Derouet, CEO: ”IN2LifeSciences has given us the opportunity to get in touch with European expertise and begin a collaboration. This project will eventually help us to improve implant technology for mini-invasive surgical approaches to knee arthrosis treatment. We are now entering a second phase with a multicentric human clinical study.”
04CompanyNEOSTEO
ContactGuillaume Derouet
ProviderRadboud
University Nijmegen Medical Centre
SMEs Effimune Vitamfero Keosys Atlantic Bone
Screen Neosteo Chelatec Bioalternatives Carlina Technologies Myelomax Affilogic Biomedical tissues In-Cell-Art VFP Therapies BioSIMS
Technologies Effiskipper Atlab pharma Onco Drug
Personalized Medicine
The MarkeTech Group
Atlantstat Tracers technology
Providers The Marketech
Group Biosims Chelatec In-Cell-Art Affilogic Bakasable INRA
Participants
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Establishing a high-throughput assay for an Elisa ProtocolIN2LifeSciences provided a collaboration incentive to help German pharmaceutical discovery services company Synovo to collaborate with Pivot Park Screening Centre in the Netherlands. The resulting arrangement led to the evaluation of an Elisa protocol.
Synovo was interested in extending their retinal pigment epthelial cell lines to address some aspects of age-related macular disease (AMD) in a human retinal pigment epithelial cell line. Through this collaboration Synovo was hoping to extend their capabilities of testing compounds for this disease model.
”The Collaboration incentive provided by IN2LifeSciences gave us the opportunity to explore something that we likely wouldn’t under normal conditions,” explains Synovo CEO Michael Burnet. ”Through the IN2LifeSciences Collaboration incentive we were given the opportunity to start a new partnership, a chance to get to know the provider and its facilities better, and open up possibilities for future cooperations.”
05Company
Synovo
ContactMichael Burnet
ProviderPivot Park
Screening Centre
”Cooperation is vital.”
Germany - BioRegio STERN
Boosting innovation and establishing partnershipsInnovation in Life Sciences is often marked by a particularly long implementation stage. Even when the initial idea is a brilliant one with high market potential, this characteristic can become the source of cash-flow problems for SMEs.
Cooperation, therefore, is vital. It’s extremely difficult for small and medium enterprises to move from idea to market alone, especially when the market that must be reached is an international one. This leads businesses to look for partners, either to close technological gaps or to prepare themselves and their offering for market entry. Finding a match is not easy, prompting many firms to search internationally with our support.
IN2LifeSciences Incentives offer support for small collaboration projects with new partners from elsewhere in the EU. This support accelerates the innovation process and helps organisations to forge strong and long-lasting partnerships across borders.
Manfred Kauer [email protected]
Regional Access Broker
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”I immediately liked the idea that the project needed to consist of two partners from different regions.”
Packaging design for an Intervertebral CageBaat Medical Products BV is a Dutch engineering company that is highly specialised in the field of orthopedics. For this reason it was an ideal partner for a collaboration with Rollerwerk-Medical, a German company specialised in product innovations for the orthopedic and rehabilitation market. The IN2LifeSciences financial incentive was essential in facilitating the project.
With the incentive Rollerwerk wanted to fund the realization of concepts that could fulfill the product requirements of new non fusion intervertebral disk prosthesis. Rollerwerk used the expertise of Baat in orthopedic product development (spinal implants). After generating the concepts, BAAT translated them to 3D models made with rapid prototyping to present to the interested surgeons.
Rollerwerk-Medical owner Matthias Roller: ”I immediately liked the idea that the project needed to consist of two partners from different regions - it promotes cooperation beyond borders. As a smaller company that has specialised itself in the field of orthopedics, we already rely upon international customers and the network of foreign partners. The project was a full success with good prospects of being continued.”
06Company
Rollerwerk-Medical
ContactMatthias Roller
ProviderBaat Medical Products BV
SMEs HB Technologies AG Numerus Limited Adiro GmbH Synovo GmbH EDI GmbH NMI-TT GmbH Rollerwerk medical
engineering & consulting
Virex GmbH CETICS Healthcare
Technologies GmbH
Participants
Providers Fraunhofer IPA tvb Textil-Vertriebs-
Beratungs-GmbH Numerus Ltd Ruger, Bartheld & Abel,
Patent und Rechtsanwälte
Rollerwerk medical engineering & consulting
ITV Denkendorf med2market Synovo GmbH GPS Grosch Pharma
Service HB Technologies AG EPflex Feinwerktechnik
GMBH Burkhardt
Wasserstrahltechnik Orthopädische Klinik
Markgröningen GVW GmbHv
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A springboard for new developmentsHaving realised the relevance of working internationally before, a small company from Lower Saxony was quick to see the potential value of the IN2LifeSciences project.
MVIP Software & Consulting GmbH from Nörten-Hardenberg found their perfect collaboration partner in MEDEX Loncin from Wallonia (Belgium) in order to develop a fully transportable X-ray system. One prototype of the portable X-ray system was sent to Bangladesh in order to do first tests for usability and to acquire a statistical relevant amount of images.
”Incentives are valuable, but the network is the most important part” says Martina Verhey, owner and CEO of MVIP. ”The broad range of experiences found within IN2LifeSciences can help an innovative company a lot. What’s more, the handling was very easy thanks to the Regional Access Broker.”
07Company
MVIP Software & Consulting GmbH
ContactMartina Verhey
ProviderMEDEX Loncin
”Incentives are valuable, but the network is the most important part.”
Germany - BiomeTI
For BiomeTI e.V., the concept of interdisciplinary collaboration always seemed reasonable. That’s the position from which we approached this, and it’s what we’ll keep supporting in the future as well.
For me, as a first-timer within the already well established group of IN2LifeSciences Regional Access Brokers, it was nice to see how engaged everyone is with the idea of working internationally together. SMEs and providers in our region were very enthusiastic after a first talk explaining the concept of IN2LifeSciences. I think that the SMEs and other providers across the IN2LifeSciences regions gained a lot from this engagement and level of enthusiasm.
To organisations interested in this kind of collaboration I’d advise them to look over the rim of their tea cups more often; they might just be surprised at what - and more importantly - who is there.
Annika Buchholz [email protected]
Regional Access Broker
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”There is a great deal of value in the ability to access such a wide network of expertise.”
Cinogy takes first steps into Danish marketCinogy GmbH was established as a spin-off from the Laboratory for Laser and Plasma Technology of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Göttingen in 2006. Cinogy specializes in the development and production of innovative plasma processes and products in the fields of medicine and cosmetics, such as its PlasmaDerm® product family, allowing the simultaneous treatment of skin areas with ’cold’ plasma.
With the help of IN2LifeSciences, Cinogy worked with Danish expert Sørensen Connecting Markets who was able to deliver recommendations for an effective approach to entering the Danish market with the PlasmaDerm® product family.
Dr. Dirk Wandke, CEO Cinogy: ”For an ambitious and innovative company like CINOGY, there is a great deal of value in the ability to access such a wide network of expertise.”
08Company
Cinogy GmbH
ContactDirk Wandke
ProviderSørensen
Connecting Markets
SMEs LLS Rowiak
LaserLabSolutions GmbH
Cinogy GmbH Twincore GmbH IBA GmbH Vibalogics GmbH MVIP Software &
Consulting GmbH Fassisi GmbH PharmaInformatic
Participants
Providers myFLYINGFISH Ulbrich & Partner PharmaInformatic Deutsches Institut
für Lebensmitteltechnik
SKC Beratung- gesellschaft GmbH
University Osnabrück
Sorensen connecting markets GmbH
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KitoZyme benefits from NutraverisKitoZyme is developing an innovative formulation for a product in the field of weight management. Information provided by Nutraveris on safety, efficacy and regulatory status of pre-selected ingredients helped KitoZyme in its choice for the final formula and galenic form. Moreover these data will be used to build the regulatory file for market approval.
Nutraveris (France) allowed KitoZyme to have easy and pertinent access to information on ingredients used in the field of nutrition and food supplements. Benefits for KitoZyme are a shorter development process and easier access to market.
Audrey Deschamps, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs Associate Manager at KitoZyme: ”IN2LifeSciences offers easy and efficient tools to initiate collaborations.”
09CompanyKitoZyme
ContactAudrey Deschamps
ProviderNutraveris
”IN2LifeSciences offers easy and efficient tools to initiate collaborations.”
Belgium - ULG Interface Entreprises
Bringing regional skills to an European levelIt was not always easy to convince small companies to join IN2LifeSciences. International projects often have the reputation of being bureaucratic and time-consuming. IN2LifeSciences is really different though offering a very concrete and fast help to SMEs.
As Regional Access Brokers for Wallonia, we have built a strong relationship with our SMEs during this project. 30 of them received a total of 34 vouchers. We also set up an European database of 312 service providers and 14 walloon providers were involved in 27 international vouchers.
IN2LifeSciences is a great experience and the vouchers are an appetizer for SMEs to expand their network across the borders and overcome their innovation bottlenecks.
As representative of the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Liège, my mission is also to set up collaborations with industrial companies. With IN2LifeSciences, we took the opportunity to open up the regional skills at a European level.
Annick Pierrard [email protected]
Regional Access Broker
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”Finding the right partner is often a key factor to success!”
Enerban and Bakasable create user-friendly app to monitor health indicatorsBelgian SME Enerban develops a range of connected devices and services dedicated to ‘health and care’, with a state−of−the−art cloud infrastructure giving users access from anywhere. Assisted by a virtual companion, an app called Miiya, Enerban’s users can effortlessly monitor a set of health indicators, such as body temperature, heart rate and physical condition.
Enerban first focused on carefully defining which kind of user experience they were looking for. That work allowed Bakasable (Pays de la Loire, France) to create an application architecture that catered to Enerban’s specific needs. Bakasable produced the look and feel of the new app, paying a lot of attention to ergonomics and simplicity.
Enerban CEO and Founder Frédéric Bruneau is enthusiastic about the support from IN2LifeSciences: ”IN2LifeSciences offers small companies a chance to find a partner in another european region and to gain more experience. Finding the right partner is often a key factor to success, and with this program it’s very easy. Keep it like this!”
10CompanyEnerban
ContactFrédéric Bruneau
ProviderBakasable
SMEs Phenosystems Diasource
ImmunoAssays Diagenode Coris Bioconcept DIM3 Sterigenics Enerban Artialis Audrey Engineering ImmuneXperts KitoZyme Laboratoires
Phacobel Bioholistics Tilman Biolab Bio-Life Targetome DelphiGenetics Colasses Parabolic Biologicals Promethera
Bioscience Hymetec Medex Loncin Iol Strategic Design
Participants
2-Observe Alan & co Rommel Consulting Trasis Iteos Therapeutics X-Ris
Providers CIP Medex Loncin Stérigenics GIGA ZebraFish MDxHealth Lasea ImmuneHealth Cyclotron Cide-Socran Stratex Parabolic Biologicals Rommel Consulting Sirris Omnichem
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epiZell and BioSIMS in collaboration projectLocated in Allerød, Denmark, epiZell is a small contact research organisation that supports the biopharmaceutical industry, start-ups, hospitals and universities with a range of analytical services. French company BioSIMS develops highly sensitive analytical technologies based on antibody microarrays. The collaboration incentive enabled BioSIMS to validate selected analyses for epiZell.
Steen Pontoppidan of epiZell is satisfied with the way this collaboration has turned out: ”You may think that € 7000 is not much money for a project, but it’s a good way to get started. This kind of money may make a company initiate processes earlier than expected, and, as we have experienced, it can be the beginning of a more permanent relationship with a partner company abroad.”
11Company
epiZell
ContactSteen Pontoppidan
ProviderBioSIMS
” This collaboration is the beginning of a more permanent relationship.”
Denmark - Biopeople
A seed for the futureIn a nutshell, IN2LifeSciences is the proof that huge amounts of confidence and small amounts of money make a great encouragement for future collaboration for both companies and project partners involved.
IN2LifeSciences gave us the opportunity to help small companies with relatively little administrative or financial burden. We helped them create successful collaborations, to solve specific problems and develop specific projects. This led to the possibility of future collaboration and strong visibility for the project and its partners.
Sophie Labrosse [email protected]
Regional Access Broker
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CiToxLAB Scantox gains access to GermanyDanish CiToxLAB applied for two IN2LifeSciences incentives to help them gain access to the German market - one Meet&Greet incentive and one Collaboration incentive to perform market research.
Both were granted and CiToxLAB Scantox has now entered an innovative market access project with consultant Ulbrich and partner. ”It has been very rewarding to enter into the IN2LifeSciences system,” says Vibeke Dalhoff, Business Development Manager at CiToxLAB.
”Initially we knew nothing about this possibility, but became aware that an incentive might open doors to various regions in Europe. We expected it to be complicated to apply for the incentives and find partners, but once we understood the concept, it became a very positive experience. Biopeople has been very supportive in the process, and we have had good help on the German side too.”
When a company applies for an IN2LifeSciences incentive, it can be included in a database that all applicants can use to search for colloboration partners. ”We had not imagined that our presence in the IN2LifeSciences database would result in more partnerships. But it turned out that companies from other European regions contacted us to enter into collaboration projects using our services, which is a good thing.”
12CompanyCiToxLAB
ContactVibeke Dalhoff
ProviderUlbrich and partner
SMEs BioAdvice Cytovac EpiZell ImmuniSigns Self Care Shop AccumOil Acutiz BBR Danmark CiToxLAB Pcovery Unizyme
Laboratories Creat It Real Dencomm Contera Pharma Medicollect CilNorth Conrig Pharma Genomic Expression Hellerung IMotions Jegubalco Concit Pharma
Participants
Nuevolution Amble ExpreS2ion
Biotechnologies
Providers CiToxLAB EpiZell Copenhagen Life
Science Advisors Sørensen
Connecting Markets Contera Pharma Inspicos Danish Dementia
Research Centre Blue Ocean Robotics Cilnorth EIR Sciences MOMA Bioneer Atonomics Expres2ion
Biotechnologies Genovis (Sweden)
”We had not imagined that our presence in the IN2LifeSciences database would result in more partnerships.”
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Market entry research for dementia insightsDutch firm Minase has developed ”Into D’mentia”; a training tool that gives healthy people insight into the daily life of people with dementia. Through IN2LifeSciences, Danish researcher Sørensen Connecting Markets has conducted market research for Minase, to speed up the introduction of Into D’mentia in Denmark.
General Director of Minase Jan Rietsema says this of the programme: ”An incentive from the IN2LifeSciences programme supported us to explore the specific market entry conditions for the introduction of our Into D’mentia simulation training onto the Danish market. From the market study we learned that our solution fits the Danish dementia care system very well. The IN2Lifesciences programme has helped us to explore our international proposition and test the approach in a pilot country.”
13Company
Minase
ContactJan Rietsema
ProviderSørensen
Connecting Markets
”IN2LifeSciences helped us to explore our international proposition.”
The Netherlands - Noord-Brabant Development Agency (BOM)
Financial incentive: a small amount of money?During the process of developing the IN2LifeSciences project, we sometimes wondered if the voucher amount would be too low to really make a difference. After all, when you ask companies what they need, they all say ‘money, money, money’.
Nevertheless, we were excited to start IN2LifeSciences and see what would happen. The incentives were set at € 500 for a Meet&Greet incentive, € 4000 for an Insight incentive and € 7000 for technological collaboration. All the available incentives were used during the project.
Afterwards we interviewed the SMEs and they all said the amount of money is sufficient to connect to organizations they did not know before. Thanks to this incentive they also started activities that they had put off for a long time. Plans in their strategy could start sooner than expected because of this extra push.
I believe we really did make a difference with IN2LifeSciences.
Ria Hein [email protected]
Regional Access Broker
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Market & regulatory research studyGerman consulting firm Med2Market set up a study to help the Eindhoven-based Goutier Laboratories with the development of their marketing strategy. The work included the definition of paths for B2B commercialization and identification of potential regulatory issues. Goutier Laboratories undertakes basic drug research, primarily in laboratory settings, to learn how the human mind operates and how psychoactive compounds can alter these processes.
Director and founder of Goutier Laboratories Wouter Goutier believes that IN2LifeSciences incentives proved their value in this case: ”The combination of a meet & greet and an insight incentive has proven to be a great asset. I am very enthusiastic about this study and Med2Market. If all goes according to plan, we may be able to make a large and important step forward.”
14Company
Goutier Laboratories
ContactWouter Goutier
ProviderMed2Market
SMEs InnoPhysics Netherlands
Translational Research Center
Pivot Park Screening Centre
Avivia Emultech Minase Consulting Okklo Life Sciences Delta Phenomics LifeTec Group BerkelBike Hertog Hendrik InnatOss
Laboratories Scint Bos medical
international Goutier Laboraties OLSP exploitatie BioConncection 3D-PharmXchange Axxicon Moulds
Eindhoven
Participants
Providers Delta Phenomics Van Berlo Pivot Park
Screening Centre
”If all goes according to plan, we may be able to make a large and important step forward.”
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Certification of revolutionary therapy for liver cancer patientsIN2LifeSciences helped Dutch research firm Quirem Medical work together with German regulatory consultants Capamed. The collaboration aimed to help Quirem to obtain the required certification for software used in their revolutionary therapy for liver cancer. Specific regulatory compliances are needed to ensure treatments meet European specifications.
Jan Sigger, Quirem CEO: ”Through the collaboration of Quirem Medical and Capamed, a company with unique understanding of our situation, we’ll be able to offer physicians software to accurately identify, target and evaluate tumors both prior to and after treatment. This yields significant benefits for patients with liver cancer.
IN2LifeSciences is a highly effective catalyst for companies in driving their innovations to the next level by extending their partner base.”
15Company
Quirem Medical
ContactJan Sigger
ProviderCapamed
”Driving their innovations to the next level by extending their partner base.”
The Netherlands - Oost N.V. & Health Valley
IN2LifeSciences reduces risk for early stage life science & health innovationsThe life science & health sector is highly international. The Dutch market is small and competitors can come from anywhere. In my view, that means that supporting young companies in the sector requires an international approach. Companies needing to validate their technology or expand their market should look beyond national borders. By lowering financial risk, even just a little, the IN2LifeSciences incentives encourage them to do just that.
Alexander Schippers [email protected]
Regional Access Broker
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Improving molecular assay developmentDutch contract research laboratory NYtor collaborated with HB Technologies to prepare a software tool to visualize and calculate frequencies of complex sets of nucleic acid data in support of molecular assay development. Multi-alignment visualisation tools currently used for molecular assay development are often not very user-friendly and lack crucial information.
IN2LifeSciences gave NYtor the opportunity to start a collaboration with the German bioinformatics and software development company HB Technologies, to develop adequate software. The IN2LifeSciences incentive covered the first stage of exploratory input and set-up phase between the two companies. HB Technologies then selected the required tools and commenced programming and finally NYtor validated the software through both in-silico and in-vitro approaches.
Han Zendman, Project Leader at NYtor:”The IN2LifeSciences incentive enabled us to explore and even introduce interesting and effective supporting tools to our routine, that would otherwise not directly be considered due to budgetary constraints.”
16Company
NYtor
ContactHan Zendman
ProviderHB Technologies
SMEs SynAffix Cytomate
Technologies B.V. NovioTech BV DHM-dental BV NYtor BV Noldus Information
Technology BV Chardon Pharma BV TropIQ Health
Sciences B.V. INN4CARE Xenikos BV Europroxima Biobioseminars Adaptics Scan@
work BV Percuros B.V. Quirem Medical BV Medimate BV Best Medical Twente Medical
Systems International B.V.
Participants
Providers SynAffix Future Diagnostics Sovation Mercachem Future Diagnostics Biobioseminars BAAT Medical
Products BV Twente Medical
Systems International (TMSi)
Geka BV Radboud University
Nijmegen Medical Centre
Hetlaatstewoord
”The incentive enabled us to explore and introduce interesting and effective supporting tools to our routine.”
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Results and conclusions
Stick to the key issuesWe issued the following financial incentives: Meet & Greet incentives (€500), Insight incentives (€4000) and Collaboration incentives (€7000). The creation of each of these was driven by the real needs of companies working in the field of sciences. Throughout the project we interviewed companies and looked into their problems. We found that key bottlenecks for many resulted from issues of financing or getting a product to market. IN2LifeSciences was about helping them to overcome these specific issues and move one step forward. In each case, we did this by stimulating cross-border cooperation and innovation.
Concrete resultsTo date, 317 requests for incentives have been received and assessed by the partners of which 228 have been approved: 108 Meet & Greet incentives, 45 Insight incentives and 75 Collaboration incentives. We not only realized around 230 cross-border matches between companies and providers, but also helped companies sell their product in different markets and give them insights into financial engineering abroad.
This equals 97% of the total incentive budget of this project. The SMEs came from following industries:
BiotechMedtechPharmaOther
38%
29%
9%
24%
86% of the participating SMEs plan to continue cooperating with the newfound partners. Given the feedback we received and the numbers above, we are happy to conclude that the project has been a great success.
Lessons learnedIn order to really help SMEs to become successful, it is important to have strong relationships with companies in your region. You need to know what their problems are and attempt to solve them with the tools at hand: a strong and active international network, financial incentives, webinars, networking and brokering in our case. In order to establish these relationships you need to really get to know the people behind the organisations – general mailings and good PR are simply not enough.
To stimulate the matchmaking process between companies and providers we did not just get to know the companies ourselves. We helped them get to know each other with events, webinars, workshops, our online directory and our access broker network. In this aspect too, we can consider IN2LifeSciences a tangible success.
”Given the results, we are happy to conclude that the project has been a great success.”
23
One plus one equals threeAside from these results we worked together with other European projects. After all, ours is by no means the only approach to facilitate longterm collaborations - it is often useful to combine and compare your methods with others. By working and learning together all parties can gain from the results – in effect, one plus one equals three.
Throughout the project we have worked closely with Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and been in contact with a number of other European initiatives. None of us wanted to reinvent the wheel, but each of us was keen to build on what had already been done. In this way too, I think we have been successful.
And of course, also in the future we are always happy to collaborate with interested organisations and projects – please do get in touch with us if you would like to discuss the possibilities.
Ria Hein, on behalf of the IN2LifeSciences Steering Group
”86% of the SMEs plan to continue cooperating with their newfound partners.”
16 SUCCESS STORIESPRESENTED BY IN2LIFESCIENCES, DECEMBER 2014
BOOSTING INNOVATIONIN LIFE SCIENCESHOW IN2LIFESCIENCES ACCELERATES THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SMES IN NORTHWEST EUROPE
www.in2lifesciences.eu
Watch our project video, explaining how IN2LifeSciences accelerates the achievement of SMEs in northwest Europe.
Project officeSponsors
Partners
vimeo.com/108497273 youtu.be/iw9UleyOrxo