One of SPARK Finland's founding mentors, Juhani Lahdenperä, will participate in tomorrow’s SPARK Finland Live Mentoring Event at Helsinki. This event offers a unique opportunity for aspiring innovators and startups to gain invaluable insights from seasoned mentors and industry leaders.
Juhani Lahdenperä has been instrumental in supporting Finnish innovation, providing guidance to help projects transition from early concepts to impactful solutions.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from one of the visionaries driving the future of health innovation in Finland!
Juhani Lahdenperä has received a special invitation to join SPARK Finland's evaluation panel on December 11, 2024. This panel plays a pivotal role in assessing and selecting the most promising projects for the program’s future development.
With his extensive expertise in innovation and business development, Juhani continues to contribute to SPARK Finland's mission of advancing impactful solutions in the health and life sciences industries.
We look forward to seeing the results of this important session!
RNatives has successfully secured a second investment from Nordic Science Investments, thanks to the business plan and Virtual Data Room (VDR) preparation led by Juhani Lahdenperä. This strategic funding marks a significant milestone for the company as it progresses toward the next phase of its platform development.
Juhani’s expertise in refining the company’s strategy and preparing documentations for investor negotiations has been instrumental in achieving this success, showcasing the importance of strong foundational planning in driving innovation forward.
Congratulations to RNatives on this achievement as they continue to break new ground!
Juhani Lahdenperä has successfully supported BiopSense and a University of Tampere project in reaching investment offers from investors. His role included drafting robust business plans and establishing Virtual Data Rooms (VDRs) for effective communication with investors enabling investment offers.
This success highlights Juhani Lahdenperä's dedication to fostering innovation and advancing promising projects toward real-world impact.
Congratulations to BiopSense and the Tampere University team for this significant achievement, setting the stage for their continued growth and development!
Juhani Lahdenperä has been elected to the SPARK Finland Fall 2024 Batch Evaluation Panel, a key role in reviewing and selecting the next generation of innovative projects. This panel is tasked with identifying high-potential ideas and guiding them toward impactful development in the health and life sciences sector.
As one of SPARK Finland's founding mentors, Juhani Lahdenperä brings invaluable expertise and insight to this critical process, shaping the future of innovation in Finland.
Juhani Lahdenperä has been named the CEO of RNatives Inc., a US-based pre-clinical stage therapeutics company. RNatives is at the forefront of developing a unique nuclear-acting miRNA platform designed for various medical indications.
The company’s most advanced therapeutic program focuses on addressing Heart Failure (HF) and Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD). These conditions are targeted by miRNA drugs that upregulate VEGFA gene expression transiently in the affected tissues, promoting neovascularization and tissue regeneration as a revolutionary approach to therapy.
Hienoja uutisia. Business Finland (BF) avaa uudelleen Innovaatiosetelin hakupalvelun 1.9.2020 alkaen.
Saadessasi BF:n innovaatiosetelin ja tilatessasi sillä palvelun BSUM:lta, tarjoamme kaupan päälle BSUM:n oman innovaatiosetelin. BSUM:n setelin arvo on 1.5 tuhatta EUR ALV 0%. Seteli vähennetään tehdyn tilauksen loppusummasta. Nyt olisi oiva sauma teetättää BSUM:lla työtä 6.5 tuhannella EUR:lla ALV 0% Innovaatiosetelien tuella.
Pystymme myös auttamaan yritystäsi innovaatiosetelin haussa!
Oletko mukana Quality Innovation Award innovaatiokilpailussa (www.qualityinnovation.org)? Tarvitseeko tiimisi sparrausta kilpailuun valmistautumisessa? BSUM:lla on laaja kokemus terveysalan rahoituksista ja innovaatiokilpailuista. Otappa yhteyttä, niin keskustellaan lisää.
Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd. keeps supporting the University of Helsinki with its TUTL applications.
"During the application writing period, we received valuable advice from BSUM (Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd.). Their expert point-of-view helped to boost particularly the business aspects in our application considerably. We were also impressed with the company´s positive attitude towards our project, which gave just the required push and confidence to succeed. " Maija Puhka, University of Helsinki
Juhani Lahdenperä said, "Unlike many of our competitors, BSUM has industrially experienced international team in place. Our team input results in high success-rates with e.g. Business Finland TUTL applications. We understand scientific research and be able to translate that into understandable and fundable commercialization project. Our emphasis is to make scientists successful in translating their research into meaningful commercial outcomes. We have been great in doing exactly that. This funding is already the second TUTL investment from Business Finland we helped to raise for University of Helsinki out from three attempts in total.” Juhani continued, “it is no wonder that there is a buzz ongoing in university about our achievements.” Juhani stated, “we are excited to help and provide support for the University of Helsinki, that we keep the doors open for new application processes from there in the future as well.”
BSUM celebrated the new year 2019, since it´s been 5 years now when we started our company operation. Since the beginning, we have made a significant impact to Finnish Life Science field. Some of the accomplishment below:
- 100% Customer satisfaction
- 17 Business Finland TUTL applications -> 15 received funding
- 11 TUTL projects completed -> 5 companies established and 2 assets out-licenced.
- Customers include companies such as European Investment Bank and Johnson and Johnson
- All Universities in Finland have used our services
- Outstanding feedback from our business training
Juhani Lahdenperä said that "We are committed into providing highly professional and dedicated support to our clients in order to make them to succeed. That has been our key working principle and it´s been very good guideline to follow as one can observe from our customer´s outstanding achievements". Juhani continued that "BSUM considers every customer project as it would be "our own invention" to be taken care of."
BSUM will take part in trade fair for chemistry and biotechnology professionals ChemBio Finland 2019 which will take place 27–28 March 2019 in Messukeskus Helsinki.
BSUM starts a tour related with Johnson & Johnson project in Finland. Johnson & Johnson selected BSUM to assist them in seeking academic and start-up collaborations from Finland. Rationale was our deep access in the local field and that BSUM can ensure for both parties that opportunities are processed appropriately.
The first two locations we decided to visit are 20.2. in Kuopio in Snellmania and 21.2. in Jyväskylä in Ambiotica. Please visit our stand on those locations if you want to learn more of possible collaboration opportunities with the industry.
BSUM Chairman & CEO Juhani Lahdenperä told that "it is really exciting to go and meet scientists and network them with the industry". He continued that "I´m very optimistic that this process leads into serious discussion between J&J and scientists about potential collaboration, and hopefully someone gets great partnership in place with our help".
BSUM announced today that Juhani Lahdenperä was hired as part-time employee into two University of Jyväskylä Tekes TUTL projects. The projects are called Mutte and Plus2. The projects are being led by professors Marja Tiirola and Olli Pentikäinen, respectively. Earlier, BSUM helped these two projects to reach TUTL funding.
Juhani Lahdenperä said: "these two projects demonstrate how top notch international research can be translated into highly potential commercialization projects. I have very high expectations into both projects. Already now, both projects are being industrially tested, and the market potential is there. It is also rare to see such true commitment and drive into the commercialization by the teams".
Juhani continued that "I find generally two reasons why commercialization projects fail with their going forward: 1. inability of the tech transfer and/or other business team to truly support the project, which seems to many times be related with lack of industrial experience of the supporting team, and 2. lack of focus by the team members into the commercialization project they should be working for. These two factors generally result, in my perspective, into the failure of the projects".
BSUM helped Dr. Tomi Rantamäki to reach TUTL funding. BSUM essentially spend necessary time to understand the potential of the invention, helped to structure the approach and actual application, supported with the application process, which in the end resulted positive funding decision by Tekes.
Tomi Rantamäki said: "The expertise provided by BSUM (Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd.) fundamentally improved my application. The communication with the company was always very smooth and efficient. Their ability to identify and improve the critical strengths and weaknesses of my project was marvelous. The company´s believe on my project already at the very early stage was exceptional and probably the biggest driving force for me to pursue with the application in the end."
Juhani Lahdenperä said "we are here to help also those scientists who might struggle with their commercialization project(s) or funding application(s) one reason or the other. We are here to support the development of the Finnish Innovation ecosystem, which is significantly behind from the international standards. We are dedicated to make impact for the better future. Helping scientists with their projects is one of the approaches we implement to reach the common national goal."
Jim and Bill are now helping Finnish Life Science projects with BSUM
Jim Kuo is an international corporate investor in the USA, which gives the project the opportunity for very significant future financing opportunities and opens doors to international financial markets. Kuo has served as CEO of Biomicro Systems Inc. and Synthetic BIologies, Inc. (NYSE: SYN), USA. Prior to that, he has served as Managing Director of Discovery Laboratories Inc. and as Deputy Director of Licensing and Development at Pfizer Inc. Kuo is currently chairing Athena Bioventures in La Jolla, California, USA.
Bill Garner is also an entrepreneur. Garner has made significant investments, both private and public, through EBD Ventrues. He has been chairman of several companies, such as Race Oncology (ASX: RAC) and InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc (CSE: IN). Garner has been a founding member of DelMar Pharmaceuticasl Inc (NASDAQ: DMPI) and was influencing the company's listing in 2013. In 2012, Garner merged with Inverseon Inc and Invion Ltd and served as CEO until 2013. Inverseon's lung drug is in Phase 3 and successfully completed four clinical trials.
Juhani stated that "this is the missing ingredient from Finnish Life Science sector, to involve highly experienced and appreciated persons from USA to help with commercialization projects. The gentlemen are available to provide input on various approaches coming across with our projects."
BSUM and UEF entered to collaboration earlier this year with the aim to co-develop the most potential life science business cases. The outcome has been very successful leading e.g. to a significant out-licensing deal.
Business Development Advisor Matti Höytö from the Entrepreneuship and Innovation Services commented that "BSUM was one of our collaboration partners to assist us in preparation one of the biggest life science out-licensing deals made this far from a Finnish University. In addition, BSUM have helped us with some of our Tekes TUTL projects, and the feedback from those projects has been excellent. I can highly recommend of using BSUM in different kind of business development activities in the field of life sciences."
Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd. (BSUM) is organizing ‘How to Setup Biotech Start-Up –course’ on August 11-12th at Pasila, Helsinki. Course starts on 11th August at 10 AM at Pasilanraitio 5 (BSUM´s offices).
Learn how to setup and run life science start-up company. Topics include company registration and practical training on basic tools for running the company. We also provide basic contract & memo templates for start-up´s and give practical tips for e.g. shareholders agreements between founders and investors, how to document financing round etc. The training is hands-on training and as a result of this course you will establish relevant documentation and tools to get into speed with your company.
Cost for such course would be 100 €+VAT/registered start-up company team. Cost is used to cover the direct costs of the course (coffee, venue rent etc.).
Please, register now via e-mail juhani (dot) lahdenpera (at) bsum (.) fi for the course if you plan to setup your company within next year and get ready for exiting start-up world.
Be quick, we have 4 slots left...
BSUM organized together with VTT Ventures ”Under the Radar – University Innovation Day for Seed Investors” on 18th April at VTT Micronova. Altogether 11 teams from VTT, Aalto University, BioMediTech (Tampere) and University of Oulu presented their high-tech innovations with applications ranging from health care to fire prevention. Both local and international seed phase investors were evaluating the business potential and giving feedback to the teams.
The three best ’Under the Radar Presentations’ were
1) Quanturi - Connecting hay bales (quanturi.com), VTT
2) BEST – Next Generation Biomaterial Test, Aalto Univeristy
3) BRAINICU – Measuring brain function during intesive care, University of Oulu
The feedback for this event was very positive both from investors and presenting teams. There is a clear need for this type of events in Finland where life science related innovations can be presented to potential investors at the planning phase of the commercialization. Investors benefit by having the opportunity to review potential business cases coming to their area of interest. The plan is to reorganize the event in 2017.
BSUM is proud to announce that all TUTL applications we helped to raise Tekes funding this far has obtained positive funding decision. During last fall we helped following projects to get funding: FAR (Oulu), MiniHypoxy (Tampere) and Dental (Oulu). In addition, we suggested modifications to two other applications and thus, helped two other scientists to get the funding for their projects. Thus, total 5 projects obtained funding with our help. Today, altogether 7 TUTL projects has been initialized with our help.
Juhani Lahdenperä, Partner & CEO of BSUM said "not all projects obtained the funding at the first attempt, but what we did for the rebounds was that we investigated the potential of the projects further and then communicated our findings to the investor, Tekes". By that BSUM showed to many people that it is devoted partner for its customer. Juhani continued that "we can play many different roles in the application processes, example we can screen and identify potential ideas just based on scientific data, we can create the application from scratch to help busy scientists or we can just give advice to the materials prepared by the scientists". Juhani concluded that "although it has been helpful to put all of our skills into game to get the positive funding decisions, that cannot be promised. What we promise, is that we keep putting our best effort into process to get your application through". Another testimonial about BSUM:s work for TUTL applications is below:
"I am pleased to write this letter of reference for CEO Juhani Lahdenperä of Biotech Start-Up Management Oy Ltd. BioMediTech Institute as a joint unit of University of Tampere and Tampere University of Technology received a remarkable funding decision from TEKES (* in late December 2015 for its MiniHypoxy pre-commercialization project. The project funding is based on the activation work carried out by CEO Lahdenperä. Based on his comprehensive contact network, good knowledge on healthcare market opportunities and inspiring support to the project parties we were able to outline a credible project plan for TEKES. In the course of the project CEO Lahdenperä will act as a Health Care business specialist and support the project parties in their efforts to create a viable business case and funding scheme for future activities. I would recommend CEO Juhani Lahdenperä for the projects that require good understanding of Health Care business dynamics, funding opportunities and academic arena. If you require any other addititonal information please feel free to contact me directly."
Juha Laiho, Senior Advisor, BioMediTech, Tampere
BSUM organized at the University of Helsinki another next generation business training course where students evaluated markets from competitive landscape perspective. Again we obtained great feedback amonst the students and below is testimonial from one of the course organizers:
''BSUM conducted the feasibility course at the University of Helsinki, which was in a Bio-business setting focusing on competitive analysis. The analysis was conducted on a real life case under Medfiles Ltd's product portfolio. In addition to a steep learning curve on the lines of market development analysis, the selected students also gained much knowledge on group dynamics and general project management skills. Overall, this venture held in collaboration with multiple partners for the University of Helsinki students and the BiotechClub members was a very fruitful platform for science based business education. Feedback's from participants were highly positive and they appreciated the course quite much, one of them stating, '' Very exciting opportunity, I learned quite a bit, I deem it very beneficial to any PhD student''. From the BiotechClub's side, It will be an honor to organize similar innovative courses and possible workshops for the forthcoming year.''
Darshan Kumar / BiotechClub Board member and Co-Chair/Researcher University of Helsinki
TEKES offers TUTL funding for researchers to commercialize their ideas. TUTL projects are designed to identify appropriate customers along with proper means and routes to further develop the idea into a commercial success.
Biotech Start Up Management (BSUM) helps customers
➢ Secure TUTL funding by helping with the application
➢ Form a business plan analysis during TUTL projects
➢ Transformation into entrepreneurs by offering business and entrepreneurship training during TUTL projects
➢ Help and support in setting up a start-up company or out-license the technology to industry
BSUM has an excelling track record in
➢ Securing TUTL funding for its customers
➢ Transforming an idea into a sustainable business
➢ Highly individualized help for customers
➢ Networking with investors in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry
We offer you free advice on TUTL funding applications, as long as you ask us for an offer on making a business plan and giving entrepreneurship training during the TUTL project. This is a limited offer for those 5 researchers who contact us first regarding their application.
Please visit our web-page www.bsum.fi for more information or contact:
Juhani Lahdenperä (CEO, MSc)
juhani.lanhenpera@bsum.fi
+358 50 3669 502
“We had a research result with potential for application, however, absolutely no idea or directions on the commercialization pathway. BSUM has given us ideas, potential target groups, contacts with industry and tangible help in preparing the TUTL-application, which was successful!” Anna Maria Pirttilä and Janne Koskimäki, FAR TUTL Project, University of Oulu
“The most valuable things for me have been to learn how to create a market analysis, make valuation calculations and create speeches for the investors. After these courses, I am readier than before to start a company and these courses have offered me self-confidence and showed that I can really do things that at first seemed impossible or hard.” Heidi Luoto, MBA4PhD, University of Turku
Have you ever wondered what kind of training would be good to take prior entering business life or starting-up of your own business? This text below is written by Heidi Luoto, PhD and MBA. She was one of our MBA4PhD students and today she is creating her own industrial career rocketing upwards. We are proud of that she really found our training packages important for her career. Please, read her letter about our business courses below:
"The courses organized by BSUM
During my MBA4PhD studies I have had the honor to participate into the courses organized by Biotech Start Up Management (BSUM). The course topics have ranged from Life Science Strategy and Business Funding, Basic Delivery and Production, Business Development and Management to Creation of Exit Strategy. BSUM has had a very good way to teach people. Typically, Juhani has first introduced us the theory and then he has given a task for us to perform and the task has always been related to the theory. Usually, we had two or three group work days when we presented our findings and each day we were given new tasks that were connected to the previous ones.
I think that Juhani has a very good way of teaching he engages the students in the projects and makes them to think by themselves. In the courses, we students have e.g. introduced ourselves to the topics of Basic Delivery and Productions where we first thought about what provides competitive advantage in general e.g. effective sales time, customer reputation and working according to the standards. Then we learned how the entrepreneur can negotiate the deals with customers and our group work started from the situation that we were a company that produced origamis and we received an order. We started our work by developing the SOPs for the origami creation and in next learning day we started to manufacture the origamis and analyzed the process. We analyzed e.g. the timing and quality and how to accelerate the process. It was a very good learning experiment.
In the creation of exit strategy course we analyzed the possible exit strategies to the real life company from the initial public offering (IPO) perspective. It was a good learning experience to think about the positive and negative sides of the IPO, to learn about how different is stock exchange in different countries and how small company may perform IPO. It was good to analyze the situations and provide suggestions for the process. We also made some valuation calculations and analyzed the situation as a group work.
In the Business development and Management of Sales course we created a market survey that we sent to more than 100 biotech start-up companies in Turku region. We received 13 answers and analyzed the results accordingly. That was a very good learning experience and I learned to make market surveys and analyze the data based on survey and theories.
In Life Science Strategy and Business Funding course we learned about the funding options for the start-up companies. We also learned how to apply for the funding and how to create a good sales speech for the investors. I think it was very good to learn how to construct the speech efficiently to be able to acquire funding. The best thing was to get feedback from the speech in order to make it better for the next time. We also learned about what are the typical strategic issues in typical life science company in Finland.
I have learned much in the courses organized by Juhani Lahdenperä and BSUM. In those courses, I have had the chance to challenge myself. I had to do things differently than before and I have been able to use the theoretical knowledge that I have to create analyzes and new information. I think that the best way to learn is to do it by myself and the BSUM courses have provided a good and safe environment to learn. The most valuable things for me have been to learn how to create a market analysis, make valuation calculations and create speeches for the investors. After these courses, I am readier than before to start a company and these courses have offered me self-confidence and showed that I can really do things that at first seemed impossible or hard. These courses have helped me to work in a company environment and I really enjoyed every minute. In my mind it is good to challenge yourself to learn. Challenges can be hard sometimes, but it should always be remembered that challenges create opportunities and these courses have been challenging and provided very good learning opportunities. I think that I can say that these courses are the best courses that I have participated in (and believe me I have participated in many courses because I have more than 650 ects point from the University….)" By Heidi Luoto
We are proud to announce that Medfiles, a leading CRO in Nordics and Baltics, outsourced Bio-Europe conference visit to BSUM. BSUM´s task was to find potential customers for Medfiles services from the event. “We were positively surprised that BSUM was able to find as many qualified prospects from the event as we usually get internally. BSUM provided this service to us with much less investment that we would have paid by sending our own representative to the event.” said Tuija Keinonen, CEO, Medfiles Ltd.
“BSUM put a great emphasis to understand us, our products and our value proposal. They delivered the conference report only 1 day after the event enabling us to smoothly and professionally continue the discussion with prospect customers” said Mirja Savolainen, Laboratory Director, Medfiles Ltd.
“BSUM business development services is designed in a way that provided resources are integral part of the team during the project and the value of our work is delivered to our partner on-time. Our #1 value is to help our customers to succeed and I´m very happy that Medfiles was satisfied to our business development services provided”. Concluded Juhani Lahdenperä, Partner and CEO of BSUM.
BSUM organized at the university of Oulu a course entitled ‘Industry Needs New Research Ideas’. The course focused on providing better understanding of the current areas of interest for industry regarding life science related research and start-ups. “The three parts of the course included review of purchasing lists of many major biotech and pharma companies, creation of high quality invention disclosure and finally how to access applied research funding to support early stage innovation development” commented Juhani Lahdenperä, CEO of BSUM.
“Some of the ideas created by the student groups can be ground-breaking and hopefully stand further evaluation and eventually gets there” Juhani continued.
The theoretical and practical approach of the course received excellent feedback from the students. ”It helped us how to develop an idea which might be commercially useful for the industries”commented one of the students. The overall feedback from the students was so positive that BSUM is looking forward to deliver this course again.
Biotech Start-Up Management has extended its services to venture capitalist companies. In our due diligence services, we are utilizing our broad hands-on experience from life science start-ups and combine that with experience of proper analysis of relevant market and other information sources to provide realistic understanding of the risks and opportunities related with an investment target.
Antti Sinisalo from VTT Ventures commented that “VTT Ventures investment process includes due diligence stage, with a strong emphasis to analyse key risks related with potential investment targets. We are utilizing Biotech Start-Up Management´s services in our life science due diligence processes due to their in depth knowledge in that field.”
Juhani Lahdenperä, Partner and CEO at BSUM comments that “Quite often life sciences investment opportunities lack proper understanding of the research and development related risks, market needs, relevant applications as well as of how to execute the business. We help investors not only to identify and understand such underlying risks in the investment targets but also help to identify the most likely to succeed business opportunities and application areas for a given technology”.
As part of BSUM recruitment services, we have screened and identified potential business professionals for University of Oulu to join a project team aiming at commercialization of an innovation related to dental care.
Maarit Jokela, PhD, from the Innovation Services commented that “With the help of BSUM, we were able to find a very competent business professional to coordinate the commercialization project initiated by a TUTL project application.” Juhani Lahdenperä, CEO of BSUM added that “in order to drive the successful technology transfer, not only during a TUTL project, but especially afterwards, it is essential to identify business talent fitting to the project requirements in order to give appropriate support to the commercialization activities.”.
BSUM organized at the University of Helsinki a course titled ‘Basic Quality Management and Practical Implementation into Academic Research Process’. The course focused on creating value to the students´ daily work by providing approaches to gain control over challenging laboratory processes. “The course gave the necessary basics of the ISO9001 quality management system followed by strong emphasis on creating Standard Operative Protocols (SOPs) to be implemented in everyday practical use” commented Juhani Lahdenperä, CEO of BSUM.
Each laboratory created a SOP for a selected laboratory process. By taking that as part of the future standard operations the likely outcome will be reduced amount of errors and enhanced quality and productivity of the process. Juhani continued that “We focused on making something which is convenient to use and productive in academic environment to gain the benefits of standardised operations and to lower the threshold to use quality management tools in the future”
The practical approach of the course received good feedback from the students. “I want to thank BSUM regarding great course. The course was extremely useful in designing SOPs for laboratory purposes. At initial phase the purpose and advantages of a good SOP were introduced, after which the participants were divided into smaller groups with similar interests. Within these groups new SOPs were created. The best part of the course was when the created SOP was presented to the rest of the participants, who then gave objective feedback of the SOPs.” commented one of the students. Another course participant summarised that "Usually courses that deal with quality systems and standardization are extremely boring. However, this course was not about studying the standardization systems by heart. Instead, I learned how to write SOPs and more importantly, how to implement them into daily work”.
The SOP´s created during the course touched all stages of the life science research work. “Students created SOP´s for each stage from patient sampling, sample collection/storage, sample processing and analytical stages to data analysis for publications. This demonstrates that there is a need for upgrading the quality management in academia and I think one easy and productive step forward is to create SOPs to cover just the most critical processes required for high quality science” concluded Juhani.
Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd. has been credited with AA rating (good credit worthiness) in an analysis performed by Bisnode. Bisnode is a leading information service provider in Europe.
“We are proud to reach AA credit worthiness already at this point of time. In fact, it is quite rare that a company established only about two years ago, can reach this high rating level” said Juhani Lahdenperä, founder and CEO of BSUM. Partner Jari Rautio commented that “This rating shows that our business is on healthy financial basis and that our operational model is functional. We will be able to continue providing and further develop our high quality services to help life science ventures to grow in Finland and internationally”.
BSUM helped Univ. of Oulu to secure Tekes TUTL-funding to develop new business from a new tool for the development of cancer drugs. The tool is the first human tissue model for cultivating cells three-dimensionally. Our services in this project included all the stages of the funding application. We helped researchers to design and write the project plan. We also collected industrial feedback about the value proposal of the technology at Bio-Europe event to support the funding application. In addition, our partner Jari Rautio gave the project presentation to Tekes panel prior to the funding application submission. This funding was the second approved life science TUTL funding for Univ. of Oulu. We would like to congratulate and thank the research team as well as University of Oulu Innovations Services for the success in this process and we are looking forward to our collaboration in the future.
Link to original news at Univ. Of Oulu webpages: http://www.oulu.fi/english/news/2015/06/new-tool-development-cancer-drugs
Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) is preparing commercialization of Array-in-Well (AiW) technology in Tekes funded MultiBioRes TUTL project. AiW technology enables multiplexed biomarker analysis efficiently saving costs and sample material providing data of several targets in parallel. AiW platform has been developed at VTT for several applications ranging from virus genotyping to cancer and autoimmune disease biomarker screening.
BSUM and VTT have made an agreement of BSUM´s role in the business development activities in the project.
Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd. seeks candidates interested in University Internal Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) position at Tekes TUTL program potentially starting early 2016.
Job description: The University Internal Entrepreneur in Residence (“EIR”) will be responsible for the coordination and execution of business activities in Tekes TUTL project. That work includes e.g. strategy development, market surveys, meeting potential customers and industrial partners etc. activities aiming at a University based spin-out or technology out-licensing. The project scope will be related to novel biomaterial and its application to increase the bond strength in dental implants. The EIR will participate to TUTL-funding application process that is currently going on. EIR position will be a part time position and for the mostly can be carried out as remote work.
Qualifications: Our customer is looking for a person who has a business background in medical devices field, preferably from startups and demonstrated track record in such business.
Interested, qualified candidates should submit a cover e-mail, resume or CV, and salary expectations through juhani.lahdenpera@bsum.fi. Please, submit your application by the end of July.
BSUM Managing partner Juhani Lahdenperä was nominated as the chairman of the Neuro-TUTL project. This is a joint project between University of Tampere and Tampere University of Technology coordinated by BioMediTech. The project aims at identifying optimal commercialization paths for in vitro methods modelling the functions of neural networks. Detailed customer and market surveys as well as identification of the best materials and manufacturing methods in industrial scale are carried out as part of the project plan. The skill set of the project team is a combination of top level engineering and biological research.
Juhani commented that "The project is one of the largest Tekes TUTL projects in Finland so far. I´m very excited to have this opportunity to work with multidisciplinary professional team. Furthermore, BioMediTech has an excellent commercialization team to support the project. With the given framework, I´m very optimistic that this project will have a successful outcome"
Links:
BioMediTech: http://www.uta.fi/bmt/
Neuro-TUTL: http://www.tut.fi/en/about-tut/departments/automation-science-and-engineering/research/projects/neuro-tutl/index.htm
Tekes TUTL: http://www.tekes.fi/rahoitus/tutkimusorganisaatiot/tutkimusideoista-uutta-tietoa-ja-liiketoimintaa/
We are proud to announce that a business training we have offered to MBA4PhD students received excellent feedback both from the students and from the course organizer, University of Turku.
“Partner Juhani Lahdenperä from Biotech Start-Up Management Ltd has been a regular visiting lecturer and expert in the on-going Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation MBA Programme (MBA4PhD), which is offered to doctoral candidates in life-science across Finnish universities, by the University of Turku. Since the beginning of the MBA4PhD programme in September 2013, Juhani has given the following courses: Life-science Strategy and Start-up Funding, Basic Delivery and Production, Business Development and Management of Sales Process.
Juhani has given a great practical contribution to the MBA4PhD program by providing the students with real-life cases and problems to solve, introducing the actual processes in the life-science business and acting as a role model of an entrepreneur.
Students really enjoy Juhani’s practical approach and they appreciate his manifold expertise within the field of life-science. By linking Juhani’s concrete life-science courses with the program’s theoretical approach of entrepreneurship and new venture creation process has added value to the MBA students. From the program´s development point of view, it has been valuable to have Juhani along, as he has fresh and good ideas. We are happy to collaborate with him also in the future.”
Kaisu Paasio, Senior Project Manager, MBA4PhD Programme Coordinator, University of Turku
We are proud to announce that our customer Modern Diagnostics (MD) obtained significant R&D funding from Tekes to commercialize technology for screening rare genetic diseases from newborn children. BSUM helped MD regarding fundraising process in all steps related. Modern Diagnostics CEO, Jukka Laine, stated that:
“Modern Diagnostics has collaborated with BSUM to secure Tekes pilot funding for our company. They helped us in structuring the project and in application process from start to end. In our experience, BSUM is an excellent choice as a business consultant. BSUM seems to have remarkable hands-on life science business experience, which enabled us to successfully improve our business. The service they provided was highly professional and they could response to our needs, if needed, with very quick responses. Their service can be warmly recommended to other life science companies by Modern Diagnostics.”
Jukka Laine, MD, PhD, CEO Modern Diagnostics Ltd.
BSUM was helping to complete a technology sales for multiplex gene marker analysis called TRAC originally owned by Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and later by VTT´s spin-off company PlexPress Ltd. The further development and commercialization of the technology will be carried out by ValiRx Plc and its daughter company ValiFinn Oy located in Oulu (Finland) that made the highest offer during the sales process.
We are pleased to see that the further development of the technology and the related business will continue to be based in Finland and support the growth of the life science business sector in the Oulu region.
The CEO of ValiRx Satu Vainikka has commented the acquisition: “The acquisition of the TRAC technology platform will synergistically strengthen our biomarker development capabilities and our biomarker library at ValiFinn and it will also substantially support our on-going clinical trials programme. The technology is already being used by a range of customers, has a revenue stream and has the potential to grow into a substantial and profitable business.”
BSUM will be presenting a portfolio of technologies at the upcoming Bio-Europe Spring event in Paris. Portfolio includes early phase drug development projects targeted for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) and Hyperlipidemia owned by FLX Discoveries and Sirtuin Valley respectively. In addition tools for drug research and screening developed at Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and University of Oulu are part of BSUM´s Bio-Europe portfolio.
Collecting industrial and investor feedback as well as finding pilot customers for analytical tools can be very effectively performed at partnering events such as Bio-Europe. Systematically collected case relevant data and feedback has been shown to be very valuable in evaluation of IPR portfolio of research institutes, in early phase fund raising and in securing successful technology transfer. This has become an important part of our ‘BSUM Partner’ service package with excellent feedback from our customers.
BSUM helped Univ. of Oulu to secure Tekes TUTL-funding to develop new business from plant-derived antibiotics. Our service essentially included all the stages of the funding application, such as technology application selection, description of its business potential as well as collecting industrial feedback for reducing business risks related to the project. This funding was the first approved life science TUTL funding for Univ. of Oulu and the first Tekes funding for Department of Biology. We would like to congratulate and thank the research team as well as University of Oulu Innovations Services for the success in this process and we are looking forward to our collaboration in the future.
Link to original news at Univ. Of Oulu webpages: http://www.oulu.fi/english/news/2014/12/new-business-plant-derived-antibiotics
BSUM wishes the best luck for the Aalto-Helsinki Bioworks team to the upcoming iGEM competition in Boston. iGEMis a worldwide synthetic biology competition for students and entrepreneurs and Bioworks is the first team from Finland participating in the event. As part of the iGEM, teams all over the world develop biological devices using the open gene archive provided by the BioBricks Foundation. Research groups are encouraged to develop and document their own gene parts to be added to the archive and to be used by other teams.
Bioworks consists of nine students from Aalto University and University of Helsinki. The team is building a remote controller for bacteria by using synthetic biology. The controller has the potential to boost the development and production in pharmaceutical and biofuel industry and industrial biotechnology. BSUM has been helping the team with business plan and model development and to get contacted with industrial partners.
More information:
Aalto-Helsinki Bioworks - www.aaltohelsinki.com
iGEM competition - www.igem.org
BioBricks foundations - www.biobricks.org
BSUM will review the market potential, help with technology transfer and fund raising for a set of cutting edge technologies that have come out of the university´s innovation pipeline. The technologies range from antibiotic peptides to instrument calibration devices. All cases have a solid scientific background, practical applications and a large market potential creating interesting opportunities for further fundraising, development, establishing startups and licensing. Selected technologies will be presented in the upcoming BioEurope event in Frankfurt in November 2014 by BSUM.
Further information about BioEurope event: http://www.ebdgroup.com/bioeurope/index.php
Further information about Innovation Services: http://www.oulu.fi/yliopisto/tutkimus/tuki/keksinn%C3%B6t-ja-liikeideat
Further information about TUTL-funding: http://www.tekes.fi/en/whats-going-on/application-schedules/new-knowledge-and-business-from-research-ideas-application-for-research-funding-22014/
Meet BSUM team at HealthBio-annual seminar. Seminar will be held at Turku, Kokouskeskus Mauno, BioCity, Tykistökatu 6 on 27.8.2014. More information about the event: www.healthbio.fi.
Screening of potential exit and business partners for customers is one of the key services BSUM provides. These can typically be long lasting processes requiring building of trust between partners that have matching business goals and complementary offering for customers. BSUM has recently helped one customer to receive an M&A offer as a result of this effort.
BSUM will organize for University of Helsinki an advanced business training course. We are looking forward to provide practical business education to the biotech students during fall 2014 with ROAL.
We congratulate Herantis Pharma on their recent IPO and wish all the best for the future. Juhani served in Hermo Pharma as a CEO until the end of 2013 just before the Laurantis M&A was executed followed by successful IPO.
We are proud to announce that our customer obtained pre-seed funding. BSUM helped them to structure the deal and related documentations.
FLX Discoveries, a biotechnology company based in Kuopio, was founded and registered today with our help. FLX Discoveries focuses on developing a novel treatment for Bening Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH).
BSUM will offer Business Development Consultation to Medaffcon offering expert services pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare sectors. Juhani Lahdenperä will join Medaffcon team.
www.medaffcon.fi
Jari Rautio, an experienced biotech business professional, joined BSUM. Jari Rautio has earlier been head of R&D at Plexpress as well as the CEO of the company. Jari Rautio provides for customers of Biotech Start-Up Management broad business and R&D experience and networks.