BIO Deutschland supports Science Sparks Start-ups
On 19 September, in collaboration with Heidelberg Startup Partners and Heidelberg Technology Park, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) held the Science Sparks Start-ups symposium to mark 20 years of the DKFZ’s Office of Technology Transfer. Along with talks and panel discussions, the well-attended event featured a Dragon’s Den pitch competition in which selected entrepreneurs from the Heidelberg region presented six innovative ideas. After an ice-breaker by Laura Howes of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), BIO Deutschland’s Managing Director Viola Bronsema moderated the pitches. The dragons were Sebastian Meier-Ewert (formerly of MPM Capital GmbH), Marcus Kostka (Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund L. P.), Kirsten Leute (Osage University Partners), Jeroen Bakker (Merck Ventures BV) and Karlheinz Schmeling (Creathor Venture).
The pitch presentations were the following:
- REMATCH – Cloud AI for Drug Discovery and Repositioning by Florian Heigwer & Christian Scheeder, DKFZ
- The Shining 800s – Highlighting Cancer by Ann-Christin Baranski, DKFZ
- The Future of Peptide Delivery by Robin Tremmel, University of Heidelberg
- Rainbow Surgery by Sebastian Wirkert & Anant Vemuri, DKFZ
- TAG It Easy and Clear It Up by Christine Koehler & Edward Lemke, EMBL
- Novel Genetic Tool Ushers in a New Era of T-Cell Engineering by Matthias Bozza, DKFZ
In addition, Viola Bronsema participated in a panel discussion on “An Ecosystem for Start-ups in Heidelberg and Beyond”.
