S3E team kicked off the START Acceleration program with an onboarding session with the 16 research teams and tech transfer offices selected through the Open Call #1.
The research teams presented their deep tech innovations and the tech transfer offices their research work. They all had the chance to meet each other creating a perfect atmosphere for collaboration and networking opportunities. During the kick off meeting, held virtually, we celebrated the first webinar of the training series called “War Stories” with Joana Simões Correia and Thiago Gomes, former participants of the HiEngine program that inspired S3E START.
Joana Simões Correia is a co-founder and the Executive Director of Exogenus Therapeutics. With a PhD in Human Biology, she dedicated more than 15 years of her career to research in the area of human diseases, including cancer genetics and regenerative medicine. Author of several high impact papers and patents, she has been a pioneer in exploring the therapeutic potential of umbilical cord blood derived exosomes as a therapeutic tool. Since 2015 she has been leading Exogenus Therapeutics research and development team and activities and has been recognized several times for the excellence of her work, nationally and internationally (eg. ANJE Young Entrepreneur Award 2015, Everis Foundation Award 2016, Prémio Empreendedor XXI 2019). Under her leadership, Exogenus Therapeutics has conquered a distinguished position in the field and is recognized has a leading company harnessing the potential of exosomes as a therapeutic tool for diseases of high unmet need.
Thiago Gomes is the Co-Founder & CEO of a StartUp called BioReboot. BioReboot is a Startup that focuses on reusing and transforming agricultural waste into a biomaterial that has the potential to replace single-use plastics in the agriculture sector. It was the winner of the StartNOW 2020 acceleration program powered by StartUP Madeira. It represented the Autonomous Region of Madeira in the first phase of Climatelaunchpad 2021, the Global Green Business Ideas Competition. Currently, it represents the University of Madeira in the Born from Knowledge 2021 Competition.
Joana and Thiago gave participants an inspirational speech about their drive to be entrepreneurs, their successful experiences, sharing advices and learning, and the reasons behind their participation in the program that inspired S3E START.
During the following 18 weeks, S3E team and the designed Mentors will be supporting the selected participants defining their pathways from the lab to the market.
About S3E START acceleration program
The S3E Start includes online classes (mainly on the topics related to the development of a business case for deep tech projects) and webinars (on diverse topics pertinent to the development of the relevant skills). These in-class tutorials will account for less than half of the total workload of the Program, the remaining time being allocated to group meetings facilitated by the mentors. There are deliverables to be fulfilled each week and these deliverables will guide the participants throughout the three phases of the Program, namely:
IDEATION PHASE: In this phase a set of clearly defined product concepts will be developed and prioritized considering the linkages between the unique capabilities of the technologies and customer/market needs (Technology-Product-Market linkages). Each team is required to generate multiple product concepts that can be enabled by each technology. Then research teams will have to identify diverse market opportunities for each product concept to further specify product attributes.
DEVELOPMENT PHASE: In this phase teams will refine, improve, validate and select among the product concepts devised in the ‘ideation’ phase using a guided approach that will force them to contact the ‘market’ to challenge and sustain each of the T-P-M linkages proposed in the ideation phase. In the early stages of this phase, teams will be looking for ‘fatal flaws’ (product or market) that will justify ‘dumping’ one (or more) T-P-M linkage(s). With the information gathered from the market teams will develop “value propositions” for their products using a standard format that will force them to (i) clearly define the product, (ii) tie customer needs to the benefits of using the product in economic terms and (iii) differentiate the product from competitors based on unique product features. Additionally, they will build a business model that, for the product moving forward, describes the rationale of how the company will create, deliver, and capture value. Throughout this phase participants will have to use a set of management tools (e.g., 5 Forces Analysis, SWOT Analysis, Industry Mapping, “Voice of the Customer”, etc.) to gain a much better understanding of the way the market works and will be supported by the tools embedded in the approach, thus fine-tuning their product concept choices.
COMMERCIALIZATION PHASE: In this phase teams put the pieces of the puzzle together by building a strategy to bring the product to market. This phase begins with the definitions of the pricing point and the sales plan answering strategic questions such as market traction and market entry point(s). Additionally, drawing on the business model previously designed teams will define their development roadmap that will allow them to build the financial projections and risk analysis. At this stage teams will have all the elements needed to produce a business case and a final pitch that will be the final deliverables for the Program.
