The LIH lecture series “Biomedical Research: from discovery to patients” composed of 12 lectures organised between mid-2017 and mid-2018 was closed with an inspiring session on 29th June 2018 providing an “introduction to local instruments supporting biomedical entrepreneurship”.

The lecture series “Biomedical Research: from discovery to patients” aimed at presenting how results from academic research can be transferred into clinical applications and provided scientists with key tools to define, mature and conduct their applied research projects. Organised by LIH’s Business Development Office (formerly Research Knowledge Transfer Office) and supported by a Knowledge and Innovation Transfer (KITS) grant of the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) in the frame of the ACTOR project, the series focused on the actors and major challenges of biomedical research and innovation through testimonials from researchers-entrepreneurs.

The final lecture of the programme chaired by Prof Markus Ollert, Director of LIH’s Department of Infection and Immunity, was a special highlight: four speakers were invited to present the support that is given to researchers in Luxembourg to develop entrepreneurial projects in the field of biomedicine.

Dr Françoise Liners from the Ministry of Economy presented what entrepreneurship is about, how it is influenced by the ecosystem and what is takes to be an entrepreneur. She stressed that the key characteristics of an entrepreneur are the readiness to take risks and the ability to convince people about ideas. Dr Andreea Monnat from FNR gave an overview on the local JUMP programme, which supports the transfer of research results to the market. Stefan Berend from Luxinnovation introduced the audience to tailor-made advisory services from which researchers with innovative ideas can benefit. He presented amongst other the “Fit 4 Start” programme for start-ups. He emphasised that pioneering ideas will find many open doors in Luxembourg, and that the communication with diverse actors is essential to further shape one’s plans. The last contribution by Prof Eric Tschirhart from the University of Luxembourg focused on the financial de-risking of entrepreneurial R&D projects from public research institutions. He introduced new structures to bridge funding gaps in innovation: LuXseed for seed capital and Capsula, a future Luxembourg-based spin-off incubator.

Dr Sandrine Logerot from LIH’s Business Development Office who coordinated the whole lecture series is satisfied with the outcome: ‘The lecture series allowed for highly interesting discussions with researchers-entrepreneurs and healthcare communities engaged in clinical research about the pathways by which scientific discoveries lead to benefits for the patients. The sessions also gave the opportunity to exchange opinions regarding open innovation models or the expectations of parties in public-private partnerships. We got very positive feedback from the researchers regarding the lectures’ content and hope that the information received will support the establishment of new patient-centric projects which represent the ideal scenario of research valorisation.’

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