Virtual Innovation Centre programme launched by One Nucleus
One Nucleus launched its Virtual Innovation Centre recently, as a supporting tool for life science companies on their growing journey.
The initiative is aimed beyond start-ups, as growth brings with it “the exponential challenges of becoming increasingly operational as well as active dealmakers”.
The full programme starts in April to help life science companies as they develop and become increasingly operational in areas including winning larger investment rounds, building partnerships, internationalisation, establishing laboratory facilities, building teams, outsourcing or accessing business support. It will comprise a structured programme of workshops as well as one-to-one consultations with a network of experts and access to online resources to dig into at their own pace.
Tony Jones, CEO at One Nucleus, said: “The plan for the Virtual Innovation Centre came through looking at what we have here in terms of accelerators and ventures, and how we can attract more people to engage in the Cambridge ecosystem.
“We’re always looking to bring innovation to the cluster to help the cluster to grow.”
The launch event at the end of January attracted more than 100 participants from around the world, who gathered to listen to a panel of sector specialists and success stories in life sciences ventures growth.
The international guest panel at the launch event comprised Bjorn Arvidson (operations manager, STUNS Life Sciences), Benjamina Bollag (CEO, Higher Steaks), Jason Mellad (CEO and co-founder, Start Codon) and Ryan Bethencourt (CEO, Wild Earth).
To set the context for the Virtual Innovation Centre, the international panel of those leading and dealing with life science challenges were asked by the moderator Rowan Gardner (Precision Life) to discuss the barriers to scaling up enterprises from a technology, investment and people perspective.
Topics covered include winning larger investment rounds, building partnerships, internationalisation, establishing laboratory facilities, building teams, outsourcing or accessing business support.
Rowan said of the key to successful scaling: “We all need a kick-ass team and be able to lead that team with grace.”
A One Nucleus spokesperson added: “And that may be where the Virtual Innovation Centre fits, to lift some operational and strategic development burdens to let the grace in each entrepreneur express itself!”
The One Nucleus network includes global players such as Thermo Fisher, Fish & Richardson, Taylor Wessing, Lonza, EBD Group, Penningtons Manches Cooper, Catalent and George James Ltd.
Themes addressed by the Virtual Innovation Centre include capital access, business development, R&D, leadership, internationalisation and business operations.
Find out more information about the One Nucleus Virtual Innovation Centre here. Applications are now open for the 2021/2022 programme. Below is the launch event in full:
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