The European Innovation Council (EIC), via its Corporate Partnership Programme, enables and supports collaboration between EIC beneficiaries and large corporations. After their participation in the EIC Corporate Day with Merck in the autumn of 2021, the EIC beneficiaries InSphero and Mindpeak are developing significant business follow-ups with the corporate.
The Corporate Partnership Programme is one of the most successful acceleration services of the EIC in terms of business creation. Since 2017, this programme has trained and coached hundreds of EIC beneficiaries to do business with the largest corporations in Europe and provided the right connections and environment for fast deals.
That's what happened with the EIC Corporate Day with Merck on 30 September 2021. As a result, follow-ups between Merck – a world-leading company in chemical, pharmaceutical & life sciences – and EIC beneficiaries InSphero and Mindpeak were possible due to the matchmaking to develop partnerships and support innovative solutions for its business needs.
Follow-up results from the engagement
Founded in 2009, Swiss-based company InSphero, a global pioneer in 3D cell culture models for in-vitro toxicology and drug discovery using state-of-the-art organ-emulating technologies, attended the EIC Corporate Day with Merck back in 2021. We talked with Jan Lichtenberg, the company’s Co-founder & CEO, who explained to us:
“We are now working with several groups within Merck, especially in the safety area. Connections have been active before but increased substantially after the EIC’s Corporate Day in 2021. There was a very specific need that we were able to provide a solution for. The negotiations were quick, very open and scientifically driven and, finally, successful.”
Founded in 2018, German-based company Mindpeak, a leading builder of AI-software for pathological diagnosis and companion diagnostic development (e.g., assisting cancer experts in providing reliable and reproducible diagnoses), also attended the event. We spoke with Felix Faber, founder & CEO at the company, regarding the follow-up discussions with Merck:
“We met at the online EIC Corporate Day with Merck, and we had several follow-up meetings with corporate representatives. It was a very good opportunity for us to get in touch with Merck.”
Future expectations
The current follow-up interactions will continue to positively advance, as explained by Jan:
“Drug safety is an important strategic business field for us and proving the value of our solutions in this project has opened the door to a more permanent business agreement, which would have a major impact on InSphero. The Business Acceleration Services team supported us extremely well during the entire process, which, as a result, help us receive very positive feedback from Merck’s representatives.”
As for Felix, he shared his thoughts on the benefits that come from participating in these types of EIC initiatives:
“This wouldn’t have happened without the EIC. We are also taking part in upcoming events to connect us to biopharma, therefore, these types of initiatives from the Business Acceleration Services are always appreciated.”
Additional information
About the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme
Since 2017 the EIC Business Acceleration Services has developed its EIC Corporate Partnership Programme to allow EIC companies to boost their network and meet relevant decision-makers from the largest companies in Europe. From October 2017 until March 2023, 63 initiatives have been organised with +100 corporate partners like: ABB, Airbus, BMW CaixaBank, CommerzBank, Enel, Ferrovial, L’Oreal, Medtronic, Neste, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Saint-Gobain, Shell, Siemens Energy, Solvay or Telefonica. Over 1200 EIC-funded startups/scaleups and +2500 corporate high-level representatives have been able to participate in these initiatives reporting a significant business impact, follow-ups and business deals in less than 6 months, including numerous pilots, proofs of concept and other business collaborations.
The EIC is looking for large corporations with open innovation spirit, interested in integrating innovations coming from startups, scaleups and research projects directly into their business offering, procurement and R&D activities as well as investing in highly innovative/deep tech companies. You can join the EIC Corporate Partnership Programme here.
If you are an EIC innovator looking for new opportunities, please check out the EIC Business Acceleration Services event calendar and sign up to enhance your business.
About InSphero
InSphero is a global pioneer in 3D cell culture models for in-vitro toxicology and drug discovery using state-of-the-art organ-emulating technologies.
(Learn more about InSphero’s breakthrough technology by visiting their official website.)
About Mindpeak
Mindpeak aims to bring together technology and healthcare, to deliver better outcomes. Their mission is to make microscopical and pathological AI-based analysis accessible to everyone in the world.
(Learn more about Mindpeak’s breakthrough technology by visiting their official website.)
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.