Innovation Support

If starting-up a life science company is hard, growing that company comes with the exponential challenges of becoming increasingly operational as well as active dealmakers.

It is from this observation and based on the One Nucleus strengths and connectivity that the Virtual Innovation Centre concept emerged in 2021 as a supporting tool for Life Science companies on their growing journey. Analyses – like this very interesting article from McKinsey – often point to the translation of science and innovation into commercialisation as the weak point in European Life Sciences. Many causes keep being identified, such as the smaller size of initial funding rounds, lack of managerial expertise, or company culture, but none of those factors are terminal and this is where the power of a network can be leveraged. The One Nucleus Virtual Innovation Centre is working on four key areas to support growing Life Science companies. Detailed here is what is being delivered, and how, in terms of support: Preparation and access to capital Raising money is an on-going task for Life Science entrepreneurs but the role evolves as the company grows, along with the type of investor and their expectations and demographic. The VIC delivered sessions supported by its partners Oyster Venture Partners and Taylor Wessing on the topics of Transactions for Growth and Best Practices to De-risk your Fundraising covering how to best prepare for different deals and investment types. These sessions are complemented by the One Nucleus investors’ network which is very active in the ecosystem. Developing deal making activities Companies’ development journeys will converge with deal making, whether in the form of research collaboration or contract research and outsourcing with suppliers or clients. This element contains a need to build commercial connection. The VIC has helped companies like Leaf Expression System and Eagle Genomics by involving them in One Nucleus’ flagship conferences ON Helix and Genesis. It also requires technical knowledge, that our partners Penningtons Manches Cooper, Fish & Richardson and pharma partners such as Lilly provide, with sessions such as Anatomy of a Research Collaboration Agreement Enhancing R&D capacities and outsourcing Fundraising and deals only happen when companies generate enough innovation. This obvious statement means that the capacity to grow R&D capacity and plan later stage development is essential to companies’ success. The VIC is fortunate to include a breadth of development partners including Catalent, Charles River, Lonza, Thermo Fisher and tranScrip who shared their expertise in sessions such as Growing Lab Capacity including Outsourcing, Purchasing and Digitally Native lab, and the session Growing with Underlying Principles of Drug Development.

Strengthening business operations. This element is rarely at the forefront of companies’ priorities, however it is as essential as the R&D operation in growing a business successfully. This is why supporting this part is crucial, so entrepreneurs can concentrate on delivering good science and the strategic developments. Our executive recruitment experts George James and law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper offered advice and shared their expertise during sessions on the topics of Identifying and Filling Gaps in the C-suite and Board and Growing with Confidence in Employees We had good engagement with the following companies over the year who benefitted from the sessions, contacts and opportunities offered within the One Nucleus conferences. Biorelate, Broken String Biosciences, Carocell Bio, Colorifix, Curileum Discovery, Drishti Discovery, Eagle Genomics, ET-traps, Kantify, Leaf Expression Systems, Mestag Therapeutics, Monument Therapeutics, MultiplAI Health, Nuclera Nucleics, Pharmenable, Semarion, Talisman Therapeutics, Valirx. We’re looking forward to continuing to support them and others who would like to join us on their journey.

For more information, please contact Aline Charpentier, Head of Innovation Support at One Nucleus.

• 12 month tailored seminar programme. • 1-2-1 meetings with leading experts. • Profile at One Nucleus and external conferences. • Directed 1-2-1 introductions. • International connectivity. • Gold membership benefits.