(Bio)technologies of Czech scientists connected with global investors. They are coming to Prague.
23 February 2017
Ambitious biotechnologies of Czech scientists will be presented to major domestic and foreign investors at the international conference BioSpot, which will be held on the 1st of March, 2017, in Prague's DOX Centre for Contemporary Art.
The projects of Czech scientists in the field of life sciences have drawn the attention of domestic and foreign private investors for many years. It is private investments that can help ambitious scientific projects to succeed on the market, and it often offers investors a superior appreciation rate in return. The reason for a need for private investments is that the Czech Republic spends annually incommensurably less funding on life sciences research than comparable countries such as Austria or Denmark.
Due to lack of experience and opportunities, among other reasons, researchers and private investors are often not able to agree on the conditions of private investment entry into projects that are funded from various sources, including public sources. The BioSpot International Conference was established in 2016 with the aim of creating a platform for scientists and private investors in the field of life sciences. It is organized by the MedChemBio cluster, the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine of Palacky University, Olomouc, and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague).
"The BioSpot platform gathers the most advanced technologies in the field of life sciences and biomedicine, assessing their developmental and commercial potential. The most interesting research results are presented to potential investors at annual conferences. Besides mediating a direct contact between scientists and the commercial sector, we aim for the long-term cultivation of an innovative environment, penetration of investment capital to the Czech Republic and the removal of barriers between researchers and investors," said Marián Hajdúch, Director of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Palacky University, Olomouc, explaining the initial idea for starting the conference.
"Until last year, we lacked a conference which would have connected promising scientific applications with investment capital," said Martin Fusek, Vice-Director for Strategic Development, IOCB Prague. "Our ambition is to make the BioSpot Conference the main event of this type in the Central European region, attracting both top research teams and experienced investors who can assist with the implementation of their results."
"BioSpot is one of the tools for implementation of research results into practice in compliance with the priorities stated in the National Research and Innovation Strategy for smart specialization of the Czech Republic," said Marek Jetmar, Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister for R & D in the Czech Republic.
The area of medicine and biotechnologies is one of the major sectors targeted by the consulting company PwC Czech Republic, which welcomes the establishment of this unique platform in the Czech Republic. "We can see a rising interest of investors in life sciences with our clients as well as on the entire Czech market. We are also pleased by the increasing number of projects that have emerged in Czechia. We have a lot of experience with investors with whom we have helped to engage in such projects," said Jan Hadrava, an expert on transaction at PwC Czech Republic.
For Merck Group, the promotion of innovations based on emerging platforms such as BioSpot, is a part of their strategy. "We are pleased that this project is arising here in the Czech Republic, with the ambition to cover Central Europe," said Carlos Senties, Merck's new head of life sciences division for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
The second Annual Conference will be held on the 1st of March, 2017, at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague. The expert program consists of eight talks and nine poster presentations about selected technologies which will contend for the attention of major domestic and foreign investors. Among the investors are British J&J Innovation and German Merck Group, whose representatives will have contributions at the conference presenting their own criteria of searches for investment opportunities.
Web and conference program: www.biospot.eu
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