Workshop and E&L: scaling up health - Biotech & Medtech

On the 31st of January, Grenoble Alpes Metropole welcomed on its territory 30 participants from the SLAKE2CT consortium accompanied by 12 healthtech start-ups coming from the 5 innovation SKALE2CT ecosystems. The objective of the organized visits was to present the brilliant and efficient tools and practices related to the success of the healthtech sector in Grenoble. On the first day, participants visited the healthtech showroom called Medytec where a complete panorama of the healthtech actors has been given. This place is the best opportunity to learn about the healthtech innovation ecosystem in Grenoble and how it has been built during the last 25 years thanks to strong partnerships. Then 2 start-ups working at Medytec explained how they benefitted from the support of the ecosystem in their business development and how they are succeeding. The second visit dealt with the international clinical research platform called Clinatec that presented the latest breakthrough in term of clinical research that are coming out from the Grenoble laboratories on an international level showing that our ecosystem plays an important role in the tomorrow clinical research that interested a lot the SKALE2CT start-ups.

On the 1st of February, it was hold the SKALE2CT first wokshop dedicated to biotech and medtech scaling up models. The workshop took place during the Tech&Fest event which was the first edition of this innovation event which gathered more than 15 000 visitors during 2 days. The objective was to be able to gather all regional and local innovation actors in one place to celebrate innovation. Including the workshop into this regional event was a good opportunity to disseminate about what is SKALE2CT and to present its members to a large group of important innovation players and decision makers. The workshop was broadcasting online. During the workshop introduced by Grenoble Alpes Metropole Vice President Mélina Herenger, 12 public and private structures have demonstrated to the audience how they contributed to the success of the Grenoble healthtech sector. The workshop was animated by the local health cluster Medicalps and its executive Director, Sebastien Weisbuch. During a specific session on the public actors support, Grenoble public structures have explained how they are engaged and how they contributed to the dynamism of the sector through political, financial or administrative mechanisms. The idea was to show the SKALE2CT partners how far actors can collaborate for a same purpose despite the structure profile. Private actors also showed how big companies can play an important role as mentor and as innovation booster for the new start-ups. 2 local start-ups unicorns testified on how they have been able to growth and expand thanks to the support of all of these present actors which was very inspiring for the star-ups in the room. The workshop gathered in total 58 experts: 29 beneficiaries, 20 partners’ representatives and 9 digital participants. 

The workshop took place during the iForum event in the first edition of the Tech&Fest, the first regionally event gathering all innovative actors to celebrate Grenoble innovation. It was the best opportunity for the SKALE2CT participants all at once to have the most accurate picture of what is Grenoble, what is the innovation ecosystem, who are the actors, what they do. It was the best opportunity to bring exchanges and networking as well as a good showcase for the Interreg project. Two presentations sessions have been given on the Grenoble Alpes pavillon agora, one presenting the overall concept of the project and the other was a pitch session of 5 SKAKE2CT start-ups. 

Our iForum event, which is a business, innovation and investment-dedicated event, includes since its creation in 1998, a capital venture event called iVenture. The iVenture, which has an international dimension, was opened to the SKALE2CT start-ups. 5 of them applied for meeting the investors, one of them Karion Therapeutics, coming from Portugal, got investors’ attention and therefore a free booth on the Grenoble Alpes Pavillon has been offered during the two days event to present her innovation.

To conclude, it was a very rich exchange&learning session and a fruitful workshop. We are sure that messages, tools and best practices have been heard from the participants and that they got inspired by what our territory and our actors can offer and concretely do. We are very happy to see that everyone was satisfied and we are now looking forward to amplifying our collaborations on further subjects with each of the SKALE2CT members.