Science4Life distinguishes: Innovations for society
Smart electric drives, new technologies for diagnosing cancer and heart disease as well as targeted vaccine development — Science4Life recognizes the best business plans.
The coronavirus has drawn attention to innovations in medicine and vaccine development. They are crucial in fighting the novel virus and show the importance of promoting new projects. Science4Life, an initiative of the Hessian state government and the health company Sanofi, has been supporting founders in the fields of life sciences, chemistry and energy for 22 years and this year can report a record number of 86 business plans submitted. Innovative biotechnology in the weightlessness of the space station ISS, fast and targeted development of new vaccines based on the modular principle as well as practical solutions for the joint use of renewable energies within residential and residential areas convinced the jury of experts and show
Patrons are Prof. Dr. Jochen Maas, Managing Director Research & Development at Sanofiin Germany, and Hesse’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Tarek Al-Wazir, whom his State Secretary Dr. Philipp Nimmermann represented at the award ceremony. Maas and Nimmermann made it clear how important start-ups are for Germany. “Founders strengthen Germany as a business and technology location,” said the State Secretary. “Science4Life supports you in a successful start.” Jochen Maas drew attention to a very special development this year: “Former Science4Life participants such as CureVac, Atriva Therapeutics or Spindiag are today significantly involved in the vaccine, test and therapy development for COVID-19. That’s a great success. “The Science4Life Energy Cup was distinguished this year by sustainability — new technologies for the generation and storage of renewable energies were presented this year by Dr. Philipp Nimmermann and Prof. Dr. Markus Pfuhl, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) atViessmann Group awarded. “The Science4Life Energy Cup goes to three innovative energy start-ups that can make a decisive contribution to the energy transition,” said Prof. Pfuhl.
Innovative ideas win at the Science4Life Venture Cup
YURI GmbH from Meckenbeuren enables biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, among others, to carry out life science research in weightlessness — on the ISS or on parabolic flights. The Prime Vector Technologies GmbH from Tübingen developed a virus-based platform technology with the help of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines designed and can be prepared. In this way, the development time for new vaccines can be reduced by around 80 percent. DEOXY from Munich is working on a fully automated system for the quantitative analysis of the gene expression of single cells in tissue or blood samples. This enables reliable data to be collected for diagnostics and the development of new therapeutic approaches.Nia Health GmbH from Berlin develops and markets a service platform for atopic dermatitis. The core product is the “Nia” smartphone app, which supports patients and their relatives in dealing with the most serious chronic skin disease on a daily basis. The pressure measuring catheter from Fibragg Diagnostics GmbH from Frankfurt am Main enables cardiologists to carry out the narrowing of blood vessels much more precisely, faster and less stressful for the patient.
Places 6 to 10 also went to innovative ideas: a personalized cell therapy for everyone (CellUnite GmbH from Munich), a molecular diagnostic point-of-care device for the safe and immediate diagnosis of skin diseases ( Dermagnostix from Munich) and medical software for automated surgery planning (InnoSurge AC from Aachen). Green Elephant Biotech from Giessen replaces single-use plastic laboratory items with products made from sustainable and carbon-neutral materials. Senodis Technologies GmbH from Dresden enables seamless product identification, component tracking and process data acquisition with the Ceracode identification solution.
Founders with a lot of energy: The winners of the Science4Life Energy Cup
Until now, tenants, homeowners and housing associations have had no technical or regulatory option to share their own energy. The pioneering force GmbH from Munich solves this problem and allows more people access to affordable and clean energy. Smela from Magdeburg is developing a new type of linear drive that intelligently combines electrical and mechanical components. This makes it the most compact plug & play alternative to pneumatic cylinders. The greenventory GmbH from Freiburg supplies power providers and network operators a data-driven support for the identification, planning and implementation of energy projects in municipalities, towns and neighborhoods.
The winners of the business plan phase of the Science4Life Venture Cup 2020:
- Place, endowed with 25,000 euros, goes to YURI GmbH from Meckenbeuren
- Place, endowed with 10,000 euros, goes to Prime Vector Technologies GmbH from Tübingen
- Place, endowed with 5,000 euros, goes to DEOXY from Munich
- Place, endowed with 2,500 euros, goes to Nia Health GmbH from Berlin
- Place, endowed with 2,500 euros, goes to Fibragg Diagnostics GmbH from Frankfurt am Main
Places 6 to 10, each endowed with 1,000 euros, in alphabetical order:
- CellUnite GmbH from Munich
- DERMAGNOSTIX from Munich
- Green Elephant Biotech from Giessen
- InnoSurge AC from Aachen
- Senodis Technologies GmbH from Dresden
The winners of the business plan phase of the Science4Life Energy Cup 2020:
- Place, endowed with 10,000 euros, goes to Pionierkraft GmbH from Munich
- Place, endowed with 5,000 euros, goes to Smela from Magdeburg
- Place, endowed with 2,500 euros, goes to greenventory GmbH from Freiburg im Breisgau
