Aarhus University and BioInnovation Institute have entered a partnership agreement to strengthen the collaboration within life science innovation and entrepreneurship.
During the past two years, several research projects and early-stage start-ups from Aarhus University have been accepted across BioInnovation Institute’s programs that all aim to bring scientific-based research closer to the market for the benefit of people and society.
“Aarhus University has an excellent research environment in the field of life science and we have already assisted in translating science to spin-out, e.g. with STipe Therapeutics. The scientific breakthrough behind this company was made in 2016 at Aarhus University and in 2018, we accepted the company into our Creation House program where we helped it to develop into a strong investment case. Due to the very strong founding team, we could assist the company with obtaining already in 2019 a series A investment of EUR 20M”, says Jens Nielsen, CEO of BioInnovation Institute.
From Aarhus University, Thomas G. Jensen, Head of the Department of Biomedicine, is very pleased that the new partnership agreement will open up to a closer collaboration especially within the earliest stages of life science innovation.
“Our department has experienced rapid and almost surprising development in the past few years in regard to the translation of research and much of this success is due to a very fruitful collaboration with the Novo Nordisk Foundation and especially BioInnovation Institute. We are very thankful and impressed by the opportunities that have been presented to us”, says Thomas G. Jensen.
One of the major outcomes of the new partnership will be found in the newly launched BII Faculty that offers three years of financial and entrepreneurial support to the top scientific projects within therapeutics, bioindustrials and health tech from Danish research institutions.
Earlier this year, the first projects joined BII Faculty from the Technical University of Denmark. BII also recently announced a new partnership with The University of Copenhagen.
“The news of this program and our partnership agreement is perfectly aligned with our focus at Aarhus University. In the past years, we have seen an increased number of patents as well as a greater interest in the entrepreneurial path from the younger generation especially. In biomedicine, it is an expensive journey to reach the market, and we are very privileged to have the help from BII”, says Thomas G. Jensen.
Read more about BII Faculty and Aarhus University.
