The Research Commercialisation team continue to attend events and conferences where we can, and James has recently been busy with health science and medical technology attending:

Translating Genomics in Oncology 2020: A virtual event co-hosted by Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre’s Onco-Innovation Programme, Early Detection Programme and Cambridge University’s University Enterprise Zone to increase awareness of entrepreneurship opportunities related to genomics in oncology, and foster multidisciplinary collaboration to solve key challenges across the entire patient pathway from risk prediction to treatment monitoring.

MedTech Integrates inaugural conference: A one-day virtual gathering of technology, diagnostics, devices and therapeutics organisations as well as clinicians and regulators, this event provided a platform to discuss the major challenges impacting the MedTech sector.

10th November 2020

Do you have a great tech business idea, but don’t know where to start? Or are you unsure what to do next in order to grow your technology company? Then sign up for #Idea2Pitch event hosted by SETsquared Bristol and part of Bristol Technology Festival, to help hone your ideas, and shape them into a pitch for gaining interest or support in your venture.

This event is designed for non-SETsquared members. Tech founders or aspiring tech entrepreneurs of all levels and backgrounds are welcome to apply to attend. The event will take place in a small group at Engine Shed (unless government guidelines change in the lead-up, in which case it will be moved online).

#Idea2Pitch includes an interactive workshop on what makes a good business idea, and how to pitch it for maximum effect, and an introduction to SETsquared, the Global No.1 university-backed business incubator.

Workshop leader: Greville Commins, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at SETsquared

#Idea2Pitch taught us how to create a memorable elevator pitch that is simple to understand and easy to deliver anywhere, anytime. I learned that the goal of a pitch should be to get to the next stage with your audience and that the ask should always be crystal clear.

From this workshop onwards and we had some huge successes like being the overall winners of the University of Bristol’s New Enterprise Competition! For me, they gave me the taste of what an experienced presenter sounds like, the courage to keep trying and the confidence to stand up and pitch until it becomes perfect!”

Konstantina Psoma, Founder and CEO of Kaedim

Schedule:

13.30 – 14.00 Intro to SETsquared – Paul Forster (SETsquared Community Manager)

14.00 – 15.00 What makes a good business idea? – Greville Commins (Entrepreneur in Residence)

15.00 – 15.15 Break

15.15 – 16.30 Developing an elevator pitch workshop – Greville Commins (Entrepreneur in Residence)

16.30 – 17.00 Pitch practice

Please apply to attend this session by answering the questions fully in the booking form, and we will let you know if your application has been successful. We have a limited number of spaces available and will be selecting participants based on SETsquared’s ability to help you develop your business ideas. Please let us know asap if you cannot make the course so your space can be offered to someone else.

SETsquared Bristol is a University of Bristol-led tech incubator, supporting tech founders to grow businesses. It has incubated over 250 companies to date, with over £500 million raised. It provides a dynamic, collaborative and supportive environment supporting its members with high-quality, bespoke business support and expertise. It was named ‘Hottest Accelerator in Europe’ at The Europas Awards 2020, and ‘Global #1 University Business Incubator’ in 2019, 2017 and 2015 as part of the SETsquared Partnership.

Bristol has won the Deal of the Year category in PraxisAuril’s KE Awards for 2020! The winning entry was for IRISi, a social enterprise established by the University of Bristol to promote and improve the healthcare response to gender-based violence through sustainable evidence-based interventions. The impact of the company has been transformational for the delivery of the intervention, the staff involved, for the clinical practice of general practice teams and for the thousands of survivors of domestic violence and abuse who have been referred to specialist support services as a result. The establishment of IRISi has saved and improved many lives. Andrew Wilson, Senior Research Commercialisation Manager, was instrumental in the creation of the company working closely with the Prof Gene Feder and Medina Johnson (CEO) to transition the IRIS service into a successful social enterprise. IRISi has recently received a £1M grant investment from London’s Violence Reduction Unit to enable expansion across 7 boroughs, with the potential to support more than two million Londoners.

Congratulations Kaedim – winners of the New Enterprise Competition Growth Stage!

Kaedim have won £10,000 and 12 months incubation with SETsquared.

Kaedim’s software enables 3D creators to spend more time doing what they love by automating repetitive tasks using AI, turning sketches into digital 3D models in seconds. Find out more about Kaedim on their website.

Runners-up:

• Forefront – £5,000 and pro-bono legal support from sponsors VWV
• HYBR – £5,000
• Ferryx – 6 months SETsquared incubation

Congratulations E2E – the winners of the People’s Choice Award!

E2E have won £2,000 in the People’s Choice Award! Massive thanks to everyone who voted.

E2E is a digital platform which aims to build an active and co-operative learning environment by connecting engineering students and academics. Find out more about E2E on their LinkedIn page.

About the New Enterprise Competition

The New Enterprise Competition is the University of Bristol’s flagship start-up competition, run by the Basecamp Enterprise team.

Every year we award £35,000 of funding to entrepreneurial students, staff and alumni. These start-ups cover a broad range of areas from jewellery design to novel vertical farming technologies.

Thank you to all our mentors for their support as part of this year’s competition. For the first time, we paired 25 aspiring entrepreneurs with a talented pool of experienced mentors. The calibre of applications was exceptional, and our mentors played a significant role in that.

There’s less than 24 hours left to have your say and vote for which University of Bristol start-up should win £2,000. Huge thanks if you have already voted, we know the finalists really appreciate your support. You’ve got until 12 noon on Wednesday 6 May to watch their pitches and make your vote count.  The winner of both the New Enterprise Growth Stage funding and the People’s Choice Award will be announced on Thursday! Vote for the People’s Choice Award here

One of our spin outs Rosa Biotech is featured in an online article in Medical Device Network.  Read all about it here: https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/features/biosensor-tech/

CytoSeek Ltd, a discovery-stage biotech company developing the next generation of cell therapies to treat cancer using its pioneering cell-membrane augmentation technology, announces today [20 Jan] the appointment of Dr Carolyn Porter as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the company.

CytoSeek is a spin-out from the University of Bristol based on research led by Professor Adam Perriman, a Professor of Bioengineering in the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. The Company’s technology enables the addition of new functionalities to cell therapies including tissue-specific targeting and enhanced cell survivability. CytoSeek is applying its technology to enable development of more effective cell therapies for the treatment of cancer.

Carolyn brings 20-years of leadership experience, including in the spin-out arena, having led the formation of 16 companies raising £52M cumulatively in seed financing while in a previous role at the University of Oxford. Carolyn has also held Board positions in several biotech companies. Most recently, Carolyn was Chief Business Officer of OxStem Ltd, a biotech developing therapies targeting stem cells, and has held senior Business Development roles in large pharma (Novartis) and biotech (Chiron) companies working on in/out licensing transactions, acquisitions and strategic alliances with deal values in excess of $1bn.

Dr Porter, said: “Cell Therapy is expected to be one of the next cornerstones of cancer treatments. Currently, challenges remain in bringing these therapies to cancer patients particularly those affected by solid tumours. CytoSeek’s technology aims to address several of these challenges such as improving the efficacy of these therapies in solid tumours. I am excited to be joining the CytoSeek team, to lead the company through its next phase of development and to join a thriving biotech community in Bristol.”

CytoSeek has undertaken initial studies to demonstrate enhancement of cell therapies not only for cancer but also for other potential indications including heart disease and osteoarthritis demonstrating the breadth of applications for its platform. The Company will be seeking commercialisation partnerships with cell therapy companies to bring next generation of advanced cell therapy products to the clinic and ultimately to patients.

Keith MacDonald, Chairman of CytoSeek, added: “We are delighted to welcome Carolyn to the CytoSeek team. Her experience of working with spin-out companies and her track record of executing partnership transactions will enable the company to build on its successful start.”

About CytoSeek

CytoSeek is a discovery stage biotech company established to develop next generation cell therapies using cellmembrane augmentation technology originating from Professor Adam Perriman’s group at Bristol University. The Company is based at Unit Dx in St Philips, Bristol and closed a £1.1M funding round in November 2019. Investors included local entrepreneurs, members of the Bristol Private Equity Club, the Venture Capital Fund UKI2S and the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund managed by Parkwalk Advisors.

Great news for one of our spin outs!  See link below:

London’s Violence Reduction Unit invests £1m in boosting doctors’ skills in identifying and supporting victims of domestic violence through the IRIS programme

The Award is the UK’s longest running and most prestigious prize for engineering innovation. It recognises outstanding engineering innovation combined with proven commercial success and tangible social benefit.

Winners receive a £50,000 cash prize, gold medal and national acclaim.

Applications are welcomed from right across the breadth of engineering from small and large companies, as well as newcomers and those well-established in their industries. We welcome applications that showcase the diversity of talent supporting UK engineering innovation.

The University of Bristol Enterprise Fund III (supported by the Research Commercialisation Team)  is almost fully committed within 9 months of launch. Companies funded to date are Inductosense https://www.inductosense.com/, Cytoseek https://www.cytoseek.uk/, Mogrify https://mogrify.co.uk/, Industrial Phycology https://i-phyc.com/ and LettUs Grow https://www.lettusgrow.com/ with a further three offers that should close by February 2020. The increased speed of investment (Fund I took almost 2 years) is indicative of the increasing number of good quality spin off and start up companies and interest in the Fund. The team are discussing raising Fund IV.

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/business/research-commercialisation/our-spin-out-companies/