For the first time the European Innovation Council organised an Innovation Procurers Day, together with the German Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics (BME) and its members. During this day 9 EIC-backed innovators had the exclusive chance to pitch to innovative procurers from the Pharma industry. The event took place in Dresden, Germany on 4 March 2020 as part of the 5th Pharma Supply Chain Congress (3-5 March 2020).
EIC Procurers days are tailor-made and highly effective acceleration services to facilitate collaboration between large procurer departments and EIC-funded innovators. Public purchasers are important actors for the innovation ecosystem. With their 14% of GDP purchasing power they are not only potential launching customers of innovative solutions, they also drive innovation by asking the market to develop new ones. Private corporate purchasers always need to maintain and develop their supply chains and introduce innovative solutions in their procurements.
Several procurers from big Pharma companies welcomed startups and scaleups that provide innovative technologies for supply chain management. The European innovators expanded their network and took the chance to leverage their business in several one-to-one meetings with members from BME.
Dr. Silvius Grobosch, CEO of BME: “Working with the EIC is a win-win situation for both sides. BME has many members, from small to large companies, while the EIC has access to new start-ups. The future is innovation and by these parties together we create value for both sides.”
At the event Marcos Escuder, Head of Global Supply Chain at Evotec commented: “Working with the EIC is a very interesting way to see which technologies we can integrate in our landscape. There are great ideas outside that we can benefit of. The companies today were of high-quality, well-prepared and I have already seen a few with which we can do interesting projects.”
Dr. Silvius Grobosch concluded the day: “This was a starting point for BME and EIC. We have great potential to bring together established SME’s and EIC-backed startups and look forward to working together in the future”.
Learn more about the companies: BlockTac, Cloudstorm, Cypheme, GenLots S.A., Itude, Medicsensors, Platform.sh, Pleanail and Turicode.
Are you looking for opportunities to connect with some of the largest public and private procurers of innovation in Europe? Keep a close eye on our events calendar and apply today for a chance to take your business to the next level.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.