Author: Lindsey Brown

Lindsey is a Virtual Executive Assistant specialising in Event management and Marketing Communications. She is Head of Content for the Innovation Forum. As an experienced marketing communications professional with 15 years experience, her main focus is event management and organisation, marketing communications including blog writing, social media, website support, email mareketing and collateral creation. Previously to EMMA Virtual and the Innovation Forum, she was Marketing Executive at Romax Technology, a drivetrain design and analysis engineering and software company. Lindsey has a BA in International Business from Loughbourough University.

Lifebit Closes $7.5M Million Series A Round to Accelerate Global Market Expansion

Lifebit CloudOS Gains Increased Market Adoption, Drives Groundbreaking Research in Life Sciences

LONDON, UK – April 30, 2020 – Lifebit Biotech, a leading innovator in bioinformatics and cognitive software solutions, today announced it closed its Series A funding round of US $7.5M (£6 million GBP) led by Idinvest Partners, to fuel ongoing product innovations and global market expansion. Previous investors Pentech Ventures LLP, Beacon Capital, and Connect Ventures also participated in the round. 

Lifebit is staying true to its mission to democratise access to genomics data by enabling all researchers to become experts at running complex analyses and to unlock the value of this data. The company’s product, Lifebit CloudOS, is fast becoming the industry’s standard for unified and secure research over distributed big data. On top of its core foundation, the platform provides integration to all open-source analysis and visualisation tools, as well as a marketplace of proprietary ones, a powerful data and cohort browser, and advanced AI functionality that together are powering discoveries in drugs and personalised medicine. Lifebit CloudOS is increasingly being deployed by leading life sciences organisations to leap forward research and cures. Its best-in-class user experience is knocking down barriers and proving transformational for Lifebit clients, including top-tier pharmaceutical organisations, as it allows all researchers, from novice to advanced, to perform groundbreaking research.

“Lifebit is uniquely positioned in the marketplace,” said Antoine Zins, Investment Manager at Idinvest. “Their product delivers a radically new approach to bioinformatics. We are very impressed with the innovation and commercialisation Lifebit has accomplished – this leading team of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs are making omics data analysis accessible, secured and collaborative for labs everywhere. We are delighted to lead this financing to help open the next chapter in Lifebit’s exciting growth story.”

Dr Maria Chatzou Dunford, Lifebit CEO and Innovation Forum Alumna [Founder of the Barcelona branch of the Innovation Forum] said, “We are incredibly proud of the validation and confidence demonstrated by all of our investors, especially considering the current economic uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are also thrilled to welcome Idinvest to the Lifebit family, who brings to us a wealth of expertise in the area of high growth biotech companies. This financing comes at a pivotal time as we are rapidly expanding our global presence, accelerating product innovation and continuing to grow our team of world-class engineers and bioinformaticians. With our partners and customers, we are pushing forward the frontiers of health and creating a more integrated, accessible landscape of knowledge that enriches life and enables meaningful breakthroughs.”

Maria Chatzou Dunsford

This news follows Lifebit’s recent major new product release. Lifebit CloudOS 2.0 integrates the Biobank Data Browser engineered for the extreme scale and complexities of biobank big data. Already deployed by Lifebit enterprise clients, the biobank browser allows users to access and utilise the extensive knowledge bases generated by biobanks, which are amassing mountains of genomic and clinical data derived from hundreds of thousands of volunteer participants. 

ABOUT LIFEBIT

Lifebit CloudOS is democratising the analysis and understanding of genomics big data to leap forward cures and enhance life. The end-to-end cloud operating system brings computation and analysis to data, wherever it resides, accelerating genomics research and delivering enriched insights in personalised medicine. Users are able to scale quickly while drastically reducing costs and speeding time to insights while harnessing the awesome power of AI – positively transformative for the scientists and researchers who share in the mission to radically change how healthcare is done. Headquartered in London, UK, Lifebit’s ecosystem of employees, partners, and customers spans 15 countries. 

Lifebit press contact: [email protected]

 

Innovation Forum Appoints Iwan Roberts as New CEO

The Innovation Forum, an innovation network and an accelerator for healthcare ventures, has been successfully driving forward innovation by connecting biotechnology stakeholders since its incorporation in 2013. 

The Innovation Forum’s commitment to advancing healthcare through strategic connections has paved the way for groundbreaking progress in biotechnology. To further enhance their operational efficiency and support their expansive network, the Forum relies on robust IT management solutions. By integrating cutting-edge technologies and streamlining their IT infrastructure, they ensure seamless collaboration and data management across various stakeholders. Their focus on maintaining a high standard of technology integration reflects their dedication to driving innovation.

In this pursuit, the Forum can leverage best-in-class ProServeIT to optimize their IT systems and support their growing needs. ProServeIT’s expertise in delivering tailored IT solutions plays a crucial role in enabling the Forum to manage complex data flows and maintain secure, reliable connections among biotechnology professionals. 

For businesses looking to streamline operations and stay competitive in today’s fast-paced digital landscape, IT managed services are an essential component. By outsourcing IT management to experts, companies can benefit from proactive monitoring, rapid issue resolution, and enhanced cybersecurity.

Managed service providers (MSPs) offer tailored solutions that help businesses optimize their infrastructure, improve performance, and ensure continuous uptime. You can click here for IT managed service to explore how these services can be customized to meet specific business needs and enhance overall operational efficiency.  By outsourcing IT management, businesses can gain access to the latest innovations, improve system resilience, and scale their operations effectively. 

Commenting on the appointment Dr Marek Tyl, the Founder of Innovation Forum and its CEO since inception who will now serve as a non-Executive Chairman said:  

“I am delighted to welcome Iwan as the new CEO of the organisation. Over the years the Innovation Forum has developed many talents and Iwan is certainly one of our high fliers. He has been with the Forum for a number of years previously leading the Manchester team and as he is both a scientist and an entrepreneur I could not think of a better person to take the Forum to its new heights.”

The Innovation Forum started as a grassroots organisation supporting entrepreneurial aspirations of PhD students and Postdocs at the University of Cambridge and has quickly expanded to become the largest global network for entrepreneurial scientists, now present at three continents, active at over 20 top university campuses and counting over 10,000 individual members. 

Iwan Roberts, currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge researching cochlear implants, has a Masters in Physics and a PhD in tissue engineering. Alongside this, Iwan has pursued multiple entrepreneurial interests including competing in IMAGINE IF! prior to joining the Innovation Forum team. He has been an active member, becoming Manager of Innovation Forum Manchester, starting multiple initiatives including the Pitch in a Pub event series. Iwan then took a more strategic role in leading global business operations in 2019. Iwan commented, 

“I am excited to take on this role and build upon the fantastic progress the network has made over the last few years. I am looking forward to expanding our central team and to further strengthen our valuable initiatives such as IMAGINE IF! that empower scientists to become entrepreneurs.”

IMAGINE IF! Accelerator competition is currently open for applications from scientific and technology innovators that aim to transform the future of healthcare and the environment. Find out more at www.inno-forum.org/accelerator 

For more information please contact: [email protected] 

Startup Creasphere by Plug and Play

What is Plug and Play:

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, they have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before.

Since inception in 2006, their programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 28 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, they have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. They provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in their community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, LendingClub, PayPal.

In addition to investing, they run 14 industry-specific innovation programs – connecting their 250+ corporate partners to their startup ecosystem for pilots, licensing deals, strategic partnerships and investment opportunities. They started their Health focus in Silicon Valley in 2015 with Johnson and Johnson as the corporate sponsor. They have since grown that program to 16 partners including Novartis, AstraZeneca, Ascension Healthcare and Bayer. In 2017, Plug and Play expanded the program to Cleveland, in partnership with Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital and Philips and most recently to Munich in partnership with Roche and Sanofi. 

What is Startup Creasphere:

Established in 2018 by Roche and Plug and Play, Startup Creasphere is the first health-focused accelerator in Munich. Since then, the program has expanded to include Sanofi as a Founding Partner.

Startup Creasphere will run two batch programs annually where hundreds of startups from across the globe will be evaluated, and the most promising companies selected by the corporate partners to join each batch. Startup Creasphere focuses on all topics along the healthcare value chain including  Digital Service Solutions, Point of Care, Digital Biomarkers, Digital Imaging, Personalized Healthcare and consumer healthcare solutions across Allergy, Sleep and Nutrition.

Selected startups will work in the twelve-week program with subject matter experts and corporate mentors to explore market insights, strengthen their business model and potentially co-create solutions with corporate champions and pilot owners.

Program Dates: 

Deep Dive Week #1 – April 9-11th 
Deep Dive Week #2 – May 7-9th 
Deep Dive Week #3 – June 4-6th 
Expo – June 27th 

Batch 1 Expo Wrap Up

The deep dive weeks are opportunities for their ecosystem of corporates and investors to come to Munich and act as mentors to the program startups. From their mentors they ask for a 3 hour time commitment where mentors either select specific startups they would like to meet with or Plug and Play ask the startups to sign up for slots based on mentors expertise and bios. Mentors meet with each company for about 30 minutes and the session structure really varies based on what the startup’s needs are. Some do their sales pitch and get  feedback, some come with specific questions and some like to do it more conversational. 

In addition to the session, Plug and Play provides ample networking opportunities not only with the startups but the other mentors and corporate partners. They do a joint lunch for everyone and a meetup in the evening. 

The expo at the end of the program is their showcase of the progress the startups have made. The audience consists of 200-300 corporate executives, investors and entrepreneurs. 

Success for Cambridge BioTech Week which showcased innovation in the Cambridge cluster

The city of Cambridge, a global hub for research and healthcare innovation, hosted Cambridge BioTech Week from 24-28 June 2019. The week featured a series of events dedicated to celebrating, showcasing and accelerating the biotechnology and health technology work taking place in and around Cambridge.

With events and activities organised by key players in the cluster, the Innovation Forum, the Milner Institute at the University of Cambridge, One Nucleus, Cambridge Wireless and Cambridge Network, the BioTech Week offered visitors a unique opportunity to meet and network with key opinion leaders from the biotechnology and healthcare sectors, including government representatives, researchers, scientists, pharma and technology innovators, academics, start-ups and investors.

The Cambridge BioTech Week shone a spotlight on Cambridge’s strengths in biotechnology, raised awareness of the exciting work taking place, catalysed new ideas and formed new partnerships. The week’s main event was the Health Horizons – Future Healthcare Forum, a new international healthcare conference which took place from 26-27 June 2019.

Dr Marek Tyl, CEO of the Innovation Forum, which organised the Health Horizons – Future Healthcare Forum, said:

“I am delighted that the Innovation Forum played a key part in this bigger initiative in Cambridge to bring an exciting festival of events showcasing the strengths of the Cambridge cluster and the UK as a whole in biotechnology and healthcare.”

Health Horizons, organised by the Innovation Forum aims to analyse the gaps, challenges and unmet needs of the current global healthcare ecosystem. Speakers and delegates discussed key topics such as novel therapeutic approaches, digital health, longevity, CNS and nano-technology, all with the aim of defining goals for the biopharma and healthcare industry, connecting investment capital with biotech start-ups and identifying strategies, policy and technological solutions that will improve healthcare in the future.

Pfizer, the leading global pharmaceutical company was the headline partner of the Health Horizons conference and participating in the BioTech Week. Rory O’Connor, MD, Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Internal Medicine at Pfizer said:

“It is critical to bring together interdisciplinary leaders in the healthcare space. Fostering dialogue and collaboration between physicians, patients, academics and industry leaders helps drive medical innovations that can ultimately improve patient care.”

Visitors participated in a range of biotech and business-related events during Biotech Week, including seminars, networking and partnering sessions, dinners and cocktail receptions. A highlight of the week was the Biotech Showcase, hosted by One Nucleus, that brought together the most innovative biotech companies in the Cambridge cluster under one roof giving visitors a taste of their work.

Although the Cambridge Biotech Week, Health Horizons and other participating events may be over for this year, the discussions will continue to flow, and conclusions made will influence healthcare in a positive, inspiring way for the future. Watch this space for news about future editions of the Cambridge Biotech Week. 

For more information, visit the Biotech Week website at: https://cambiotechweek.com

Interview with Lightning Africa

Lighting Africa is a joint initiative by the International Financial Corporation and the World Bank with the vision of enabling more than 250 million people across sub-Saharan Africa to gain access to clean, affordable, quality verified off-grid lighting and energy products. Lighting Africa has the following main
objectives:

a) To contribute to rural electrification, to be achieved dominantly with off-grid solar lighting products.

b) Switching from non-quality verified and counterfeit solar products to reliable solar-products meeting Lighting Global Quality Standards.

c) Collaborate with various stakeholders with common goals and plans for achieving rural electrification with solar products, and; 

d) Finding solutions for making solar available for both productive and consumptive usage.

IFC and World Bank are also implementing a dedicated mini-grid project in Tanzania to contribute to rural electrification. We discussed Lighting Africa’s recent activities and future goals to understand the landscape of the solar-industry in the coming years.

Since when has Lighting Africa established its presence in Tanzania? What are the activities you have engaged in since then and what are the major challenges?

The Lighting Africa/Tanzania Program was initiated in the country in September 2016. One of the major challenges for all solar companies has been to convince the rural population of the reliability and benefits of quality-verified solar-powered equipment as compared to cheap and easily accessible non-quality verified solar products and other electric products for lighting. Since solar lanterns became affordable and gained access into the African markets, there has been a huge influx of counterfeit and non-quality verified products. 
These products are very likely to be faulty and have shorter lifetimes, which can consequently discredit solar-products in the long run. People who bought these cheap solar products from the local shops have had a bad impression of solar-powered technology since they have only experienced faulty products.

As soon as we entered the Tanzanian market changing that negative perception was the immediate and most important challenge for us to tackle. Especially since many retailers and solar-product distributors couldn’t themselves differentiate between genuine and counterfeit solar products, as underscored by IFC-funded market intelligence study whose findings were released in January 2018. We have taken up the responsibility of contributing to market transformation to improve the penetration of quality-verified solar products into the market.

However, with IFC/World Bank support through the Lighting Africa/Tanzania Program, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has adopted Lighting Global Quality Standards and set-up a lab to test solar-products for quality assurance. It remains a challenge to completely free the market from existing non-quality verified and counterfeit products and we continue working with TBS, Tanzania Renewable Association (TAREA) and other development partners towards enforcement of adopted standards.  

“Shine with Solar, that’s the way to go!”

Collin GUMBU
Consultant, Lighting Africa (Tanzania)

How do you communicate with the local agents in various rural areas to train them? Do you work in partnership with other stakeholders in the industry?

Lighting Africa/ Tanzania works with almost all the stakeholders in the market including TAREA, REA, TBS and companies with quality-verified products like Azuri, Greenlight planet, Omnivoltaic Energy Solutions, Amped Innovation Inc. and d.light. We work with these companies to create sound, local supply chains to ensure availability and to enhance awareness of quality verified solar products through the ongoing program’s consumer education campaign dubbed “Ng’aa na sola ndo mpango mzima” (“Shine with solar, it is the complete deal”).

What is your perception of the consumers’ willingness to adopt solar technology?

Rural communities are well aware of the effects of using kerosene lamps on their health. Through the awareness campaigns by TAREA and development partners SNV (Netherlands Development Organization) and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), kerosene lamps are famously unpopular. Many communities prefer using solar products simply because they are cheaper and more convenient to use in addition to being safer. The PayGo (pay-as-you-go) system is ingrained into the rural economies across the country. People use their mobile phones and mobile-payment accounts as their bank-accounts since they
can set-up a mobile-account simply by having a sim card and a device to operate the sim card. So making pay-as-you-go payments possible through mobiles accounts of the likes of ‘MPesa’ has given the solar companies a huge advantage.

We sensed frustration amongst people due to poor reliability of counterfeit products but if you give them quality products they are very willing to install them. Lighting Africa/Tanzania aims to use solar-products for enabling people to earn a living and make productive use of the technology. 

And hence people will hopefully start seeing it as a medium to improve their quality of life rather than just as a source of electricity.

Innovation Forum Brings the First Ever IMAGINE IF! Accelerator to Serbia

The IMAGINE IF! Accelerator, the first truly global competition and pre-acceleration program for healthcare science ventures, will take place for the first time in Serbia, thanks to a successful partnership between the Innovation Forum, the Science Technology Park Belgrade, our platinum partner, and the Health Tech LAB, our silver partner. This gives Serbian start-ups the opportunity to access the global Innovation Forum network and represent their country at the final IMAGINE IF! competition taking place in June 2019 in Cambridge, UK.

The Innovation Forum platinum partner and local host of IMAGINE IF!, the Science Technology Park Belgrade (Tech Park: www.ntpark.rs), was established in 2015 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the City of Belgrade, the University of Belgrade, and with support from the Swiss Government. Their main aim is to support entrepreneurs, start-ups and growing tech companies with innovation development and commercialisation by providing a need-based set of infrastructure and business support services. Currently, there are more than 70 start-ups and growing tech companies operating under the Tech Park roof, creating a combined total income of more than 16 million Euros in 2017.

Serbia – the new high-tech destination in the Western Balkan region, with the Science Technology Park Belgrade has created an additional national instrument for supporting innovation. The Tech Park is currently home to more than 10 international R&D centres, including companies from Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong, and from this year onward will be ‘home’ to the IMAGINE IF! Serbia Accelerator.

Commenting on the partnership with the Innovation Forum, Acting Director of Science Technology Park Belgrade, Ms Gordana Danilovic Grkovic said: “It is our honour to be part of the IMAGINE IF! program as a pioneer in Serbia and to be able to offer entrepreneurs mentors’ support, as well as the expertise and network provided by the Innovation Forum.  This gives start-ups more knowledge and skills to develop into successful businesses. We currently host and support more than 70 start-ups and innovative SMEs, among which an increasing number of those are in the health tech sector. We are convinced that this competition will encourage and inspire more business ideas and promote the importance of commercialisation of health tech innovation in Serbia.”

With the need for better multidisciplinary engagement and the selection of key priorities for the region, in the field of healthcare, the European Connected Health Alliance (ECHAlliance), member and silver partner, The Health Tech LAB, was created in order to promote existing solutions in health tech ecosystems, to create innovative solutions and to support continuous growth in the region and beyond. They were involved in the organisation of “Startup Jerusalem” and “Belgrade Venture Forum”, which highlights the importance of international collaboration as well as their visibility to the world market through ECHAlliance.

The mission of the Innovation Forum overlaps with those of Tech Park and Health Tech LAB, and that is the creation of an ecosystem that stimulates innovation, as well as international collaboration between innovators, industry, academia, government and investors. With great enthusiasm to personally contribute and help the translation of science and entrepreneurship in Serbia, Staša Stanković, Head of IMAGINE IF! Serbia, uses Innovation Forum’s grassroots and professional network to support early-stage start-ups and academics with ideas that are based on scientific research, as well as to broaden and strengthen the networks between Serbian and international scientists and entrepreneurs.

IMAGINE IF! will provide extensive opportunities to Serbian start-ups including a mentorship program by local leaders in the field of healthcare, biotechnology and consulting, and networking with 10,000 innovators within the Innovation Forum global platform. This year’s competition will take place at the Science Technology Park, and will focus exclusively on healthcare start-ups, including new or different types of therapies, devices, diagnostics, platform technology, digital health intelligence or data, and other related topics.

The local winner will be awarded €2,000 funding and will also secure a place to compete against the winners of other international branches at our global IMAGINE IF! competition in Cambridge, where a further $10,000 non-dilutive funding is up for grabs.  In addition, 6 months free laboratory space and additional mentorship by international representatives from leading healthcare and biotechnology companies are available to global winners.

This is an exciting time for Serbian start-ups! The Science Technology Park Belgrade and Health Tech LAB will greatly facilitate access to young entrepreneurs and professionals in Serbia, thus enabling the Innovation Forum to create a platform that provides Serbia with higher international exposure and publicity within the science sector.

We all look forward to working together to drive innovative technology development by globally connecting innovators, industry and investors.

Innovation Forum appoints Marios Poullas to lead IMAGINE IF! Accelerator

The Innovation Forum is delighted to announce the appointment of Marios S Poullas as the Global Accelerator Manager for the IMAGINE IF! Accelerator.  

 

Marios Poullas, is experienced in data analysis, leadership, operations and project management, strategy planning and business development.

Picture of Marios S Poullas
Marios, Director of Global Operations at the Innovation Forum, coordinates the activities of 15 active branches around the world with more than 150 team members. He also supports the Business Development team and develops and maintains strong relationships with various partners of the Innovation Forum. Before joining the Innovation Forum’s Global Executive Team, he served for a year as the President of the London UCL branch of the organisation, where he organised many successful local events and secured significant funding.

Marios is currently working with the Portfolio Management and Business Operations team at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, while he is also working towards completing his Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University College of London. He received his Masters in Research from Imperial College London in the field of Biomedical Research and his major degree in Biochemistry with Genetics from the University of Lancaster.

Commenting on his appointment, Marios said, “It’s an honour to be appointed as the Global Accelerator Manager for the IMAGINE IF! Accelerator. I have always been passionate about entrepreneurship, helping early stage start-ups to succeed, and this is now another opportunity to personally contribute to this complex and exciting world of thriving innovation. The Innovation Forum’s mission is to facilitate innovation by fostering synergies between academia, industry and the public sector, and IMAGINE IF! is the most practical platform to achieve that. I am very excited to be part of such an active and exciting network as the Innovation Forum.  I am really looking forward to working with the IMAGINE IF! coordinators from our global branches and with the professional team of international mentors to deliver a high-quality accelerator at a global level.”

Marek Tyl, CEO of the Innovation Forum added, “Marios has been an important team member of the Innovation Forum and has successfully run our operations in London for the past year. I am very pleased he is now taking the responsibility of coordinating IMAGINE IF! globally. He is a very driven and skilled manager and I have no doubt he will build an incredible programme for the IMAGINE IF! 2018/19 Accelerator.”

IMAGINE IF! is the first truly global competition and accelerator program for healthcare science ventures (start-ups based on genuine, novel scientific ideas which may have a significant impact on improving human or animal wellbeing; e.g. new medicines, medical, digital health, etc.).

IMAGINE IF! utilises the Innovation Forum’s grassroots and professional network with the aim of supporting very early-stage science start-ups or even academics with an idea that is based on their scientific research.

The accelerator provides extensive opportunities: mentorship, the potential to secure non-dilutive capital, free advice from leading professional services companies and rapid networking across the Innovation Forum platform.

To discover more about the IMAGINE IF! Accelerator, visit https://inno-forum.org/accelerator/