In collaboration with Incuba, AU gathered about 40 investors for the Aarhus Investor Summit – Science Edition to demonstrate research results and to stimulate collaborations.

2019.11.22 | Signe Schou

“Welcome to collaboration.” These were the first words from Rector Brian Bech Nielsen as he welcomed a packed hall to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Aarhus University. Forty investors had come to a special Aarhus Investor Summit, with particular focus on investment in spin-outs within natural and medical sciences.

Spin-outs are further a development of research results into a product or technology that can be sold on a market. AU has experienced that researchers often need help to take this step with their research.

"We see this as an absolutely crucial task to contribute to growth and prosperity in Danish society. That's why we need a lot more spin-outs. We’re ready to take major steps towards creating more, but we need your help," said Brian Bech Nielsen in his opening speech. 

Stronger focus on the business potential of research

Anette Miltoft, head of the Technology Transfer Office (TTO), was also among the speakers. She pointed out that the purpose of the event was to introduce local investors to the investment opportunities coming out of research at AU.

"We want to increase investor awareness of the potentials in research if we combine it with business skills and risk capital," said Anette Miltoft. 

She emphasised that a researcher with a fledgling company doesn’t just need financing, but also investors' commercial competences and market knowledge.

And there were many examples for inspiration, when a number of established spin-outs with AU researchers pitched their projects. Nano-polymer brushes that can securely bind very different surfaces together, a field-monitoring robot that helps farmers spread fertilizer more accurately, and a new method of detecting pathogenic bacteria in food, are just a few examples.

According to Anette Poulsen Miltoft, the aim of the event was to forge potentials for collaboration between researchers and investors.

"An event like this will be successful if researchers and investors establish contact that continues after today and becomes a potential for collaboration. They say that more investments are made in the team around a project than in the actual technology itself. It can take months, sometimes years, to establish a collaboration, and it takes trust to invest in a project. Some of the projects need maturing to make the research is more application-oriented, before they are ready for investment. Nevertheless, today's discussions are very useful for the researchers. Just speaking with investors can provide a framework, direction and focus for their work ahead," said Anette Miltoft.

Hunting for collaboration partners

Two researchers who experienced just this were Karin Lykke-Hartmann, associate professor at the Department of Biomedicine and Estefano Pinilla, PhD student at the same department.

Karin Lykke-Hartmann's award-winning research is working with a new method to treat infertility in women using molecules instead of hormones, and she has already patented her discovery.

"My goal for participating today is to get a sense of what opportunities we have and to get a taste of the extent of interest at the current stage of our research," said Karin Lykke-Hartmann, and continued:

"The Investor Summit is valuable for me in several ways: It’s good training in talking about my research, I can meet other researchers in the same situation as I am, and I can contact business angels and investors who can tell me what I have to do before they’re ready to enter into collaboration. The best thing that could happen today was that someone said: ‘There's a huge potential for what you're doing, and we want to be part of it. Let's get to know each other better.’"

Estefano Pinilla is working on methods to prevent the vascular diseases often associated with diabetes.

"Our research is still at basic level, but it shows potential to be developed into workable treatment relatively quickly. Our goal for today is primarily to get ourselves noticed. Hopefully, this will also be the first step towards finding partners with the expertise we need to work towards commercialisation. Our next step is to get solid proof of concept and establish a spin-out in 2021 to attract investment for clinical trials. We’re ready to risk what it takes to move on," said the young researcher.

The Aarhus investor Summit - Science Edition was held by the AU Technology Transfer Office in collaboration with Incuba.

---

Facts:

The TTO, commercialisation and spin-out: The TTO manages agreements on research collaborations, inventions and commercialisation for AU and Central Denmark Region. Among other things, commercialisation work consists of, together with the researchers, commercial development of research results into a product or technology for which there is a market, including identification and dialogue with relevant companies. The two usual commercialisation routes are licence/sale to an existing company, or collaboration with the researchers on establishing their own business on the basis of their invention. The latter is called a spin-out. See more at https://www.au.dk/samarbejde/teknologioverfoersel/.