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BIA Start-Up Festival 2023
The BIA are delighted to announce the return of the Start-up Festival in 2023, which will take place for the first time in person in May.
The event will bring together the best of rising talent in the sector for a day of informative sessions designed to build on your existing knowledge and allow you to learn from peers and established industry experts alike.
Attendees will be able to meet with both peers and potential advisors during the day.
This event is now SOLD OUT. If you would like to be added to the waiting list please submit your details via the form on the 'waiting list' tab.
Please note: The Start-up Festival is intended for the leadership of early-stage companies to learn from each other and from invited thought leaders in the sector. In order to ensure a critical mass of startup entrepreneurs, we are limiting numbers of service providers, beyond those sponsoring and supporting the event.
9:00 Registration and Refreshments
9:30 BIA Introduction
Jane Wall, Director, Business Development and Membership Services, BIA
9:45 Masterclass 1: Pitching to VCs and big pharma
Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi, Venture Development Director, Pioneer Group
Jan-Philipp Kruse, Senior Director Open Innovation and Business Development and Licensing, Bayer
10:30 Panel 1: Where can start-ups find funding in 2023?
Tom Goodman, Partner, Cooley
Jonathan Kwok, Chief Executive Officer, Infinitopes
Terry O'Neill, Head of Health, Knowledge Transfer Network
Janette Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Five Alarm Bio
Vineeta Tripathi, CEO and CSO, Vitarka Therapeutics
11:15 BREAK
11:30 Masterclass 2: Scaling from 5 - 20
Claire Button, Chief Executive Officer, Fusion Biomed
12:15 Panel 2: What is the right scaling model for you?
Kathryn Chapman, Director, Science & Entrepreneurship, Babraham Research Campus
Aidan Courtney, Executive and Non-Executive Chairman, MarraBio and VascVersa
Mairi Dillon, Ecosystem Manager, UK & Ireland, Kadans Science Partner
Rosie Rodriguez, Senior Vice President, Head of People, Place and Projects, Relation Therapeutics
13:00 LUNCH
14:00 Panel 3: To new horizons - building your overseas presence
Dianne Lee, Chief Executive Officer, DLRC
Boonrat Lohwongwatana, Chief Executive Officer, Meticuly
Claire Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Agility Life Sciences
14:45 Masterclass 3: Adapting IP strategy to improve investability
Edward Rainsford, Senior Associate, Appleyard Lees
15:30 BREAK
15:45 Panel 4: Experiences of founding entrepreneurs
Nara Daubeney, Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder, Phaim
Aisha Latif, Cell Therapy Workflow Development Leader UK & Ireland, Cytiva
Danuta Jeziorska, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Nucleome Therapeutics
Jeroen Verheyen, Chief Executive Officer, Semarion
16:30 Keynote
James Peach, Chief Executive Officer, Human Centric Drug Discovery
16:45 Networking drinks reception
18:00 Close
Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi
AJ leads Pioneer's venture building programmes across the UK and Ireland, as well as partnerships with universities, grant funding bodies, and large pharma. He joined BioCity (now Pioneer Group) in 2017 and has been responsible for scaling venture building activity and supporting the emergence of breakthrough life science companies. During his tenure, over 80 companies have been supported which have raised over £200m in funding to date. AJ was previously Head of Sequencing Services at Desktop Genetics, a venture-backed biotech startup, enabling IND applications of genome-edited cell therapies. Desktop Genetics was backed by several investors including Illumina Inc and was acquired in 2018. AJ began his career in academia and holds a PhD in Clinical Medicine from Trinity College Dublin.
Claire Button
Dr Claire Button founded Fusion Biomed, a specialist search and investment partner for early stage, high-growth biotech and medtech, to address challenges facing life science and medtech ventures as they grow from interesting technology or science through to exit. After her PhD in Immunopharmacology, Claire spent over 15 years working with entrepreneurs, stakeholders, and boards of ventures like this. She brings deep understanding and a global network; partnering with ventures to build boards, secure investment, find commercial leaders, design business plans and other elements required for company success. Claire is CEO of Mentis Cura, a data-driven neuro-tech platform company, diagnosing brain disorders for early intervention and treatment. She is a member of the medtech committee of Consilience Ventures, an investment fund for early-stage, high-growth ventures. Claire has co-founded life sciences ventures in several fields, including diagnostics, and understands the value of data platforms and AI to healthcare. Claire supports initiatives to encourage and support entrepreneurialism; she presents and mentors on programmes such as KQ Labs at the Francis Crick Institute. She is Advisory Board Member, Mentor and Judge for the GAP Summit, and participates in European and China focused Venture Camps, bringing commercial perspectives to start-up ventures. She is also passionate about empowering women in STEM careers, and actively supports the work of AWiSE.
Kathryn Chapman
Kathryn has recently joined the Babraham Research Campus as Director of Science and Entrepreneurship. A scientist by training, Kathryn’s research career focussed on disease modelling and target discovery at the University of Manchester, Harvard Medical School, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and GlaxoSmithKline. Since then, she has established and directed various initiatives which use her passion for creating synergy and impact through academic/business and business/business partnerships. Kathryn established and led the Milner Therapeutics Institute at the University of Cambridge and spent 10 years at the NC3Rs, UKRI working with over 40 pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe to improve scientific and business processes and reduce animal use in drug development. She has 50+ research publications and sits on a number of national and international Review Panels including for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), BBSRC and Innovate UK. She holds an honorary Professorship with the University of Coventry where she sits on the Vice-Chancellors Advisory Group for industry/academic engagement. Kathryn works with stakeholders across the Cambridge ecosystem to support cultural change. She is a co-founder of the University of Cambridge’s Connect: Health Tech initiative which includes a thriving online community to connect entrepreneurs across disciplines.
Aidan Courtney
Aidan has over 25 years’ experience of starting and growing companies in life-sciences and other technology sectors. He is currently Executive Chairman of Marrabio and Non-executive Chairman of VascVersa, both early-stage spinouts from Newcastle University and Queen’s University Belfast respectively. For each company he leads on developing long-term strategy, fund-raising and establishing strong corporate governance. Aidan has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, a Masters degree in Innovation Technology Law from Edinburgh University and is a qualified accountant. Previously he co-founded and was CEO of Roslin Cells, which produced clinical grade pluripotent stem cells and provided cell therapy manufacturing and drug discovery services for commercial clients. While CEO of RC, he led the creation of the EBiSC consortium of 28 commercial and academic research partners across nine EU countries to create the European repository for induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. In 2016, Aidan co-ordinated the creation of two spin-out businesses from RC and subsequently became CEO of Censo Biotechnologies which focussed on using stem cells for drug discovery.
Claire Devine
As a patent attorney Claire has worked with a range of clients in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical areas, on applications related to a broad range of technologies, including antibodies, industrial biotechnology, gene therapies, RNA therapies, new chemical entities and drug repurposing. Claire has gained experience in drafting and prosecution of patents along with oppositions at the EPO and providing FTO assessments. After studying biochemistry at the University of Leeds, Claire went on to complete a PhD in structural molecular biology. Her work focused using non-canonical amino acids to engineer novel enzymes with altered substrate specificity. Through her PhD Claire gained experience in molecular biology, enzymology, X-ray crystallography and organic chemistry. Before joining the intellectual property profession, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the field of protein engineering and synthetic biology. During both her PhD and post-doctoral fellowship Claire published her work in a number of peer reviewed journals.
Mairi Dillon
Mairi has a wealth of experience in early-stage tech fundraising, project management and outward facing relationship building (public and private sector). She began her career in major government sponsored infrastructure projects before moving into the innovation and entrepreneurship landscape. As Head of Operations for a venture capital backed bio-tech start-up, she gained broad business experience bringing a product to market and fundraising both in the UK and abroad. Through her recent roles within the Catapult Network, Smart Specialisation Hub and Innovate UK's Knowledge Transfer Network, Mairi has built a deep understanding of how to link the research, commercial and investment worlds. At Kadans, Mairi works closely with tenants as well as local, national and international stakeholders to support their aims and generate mutually beneficial opportunities. Kadans Science Partner is the European leader investing in the development of ecosystems and real estate with a dedicated focus on the knowledge intensive sector. They are present on 26 campuses in 7 countries and are backed by AXA IM Alts. Kadans Science Partner and Canary Wharf Group formed a joint venture last year to develop a new 800,000 sq ft GIA life science focused, wet lab enabled building in Canary Wharf, London. Due to be completed in 2026, this large-scale development is a catalyst for a new world leading life science cluster and ecosystem.
Tom Goodman
Tom Goodman is a partner in Cooley’s ECVC practice who counsels early and growth stage life sciences and technology companies and the venture capital and other funds that invest in them. On the company side, Tom acts as external general counsel to his clients throughout their life cycle and has particular experience advising on company formation, capitalization and financings, governance and private and public exits.
Aisha Latif
Ash is responsible for leading the Cell Therapy Workflow Development across UK and Ireland. She is responsible to support the entire workflow from start to finish. Prior to working in a commercial setting Ash has worked as a scientist for various R&D companies so has a very good understanding when it comes to validating processes. Ash previously managed and directed her own international science-led beauty brand . She has many years of experience working in various lab settings from Cell culture, Quality control and innovation. Ash completed her Mini MBA in 2022 and has a degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Bradford.
Dianne Lee
Dianne is CEO of DLRC Ltd, part of the DLRC Group which is also established in the EU (Germany) and US (Boston). DLRC Group is a leading Regulatory Affairs consultancy employing more than 80 consultants who provide comprehensive strategic and operational support to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical technology, and related industries across major markets. Dianne founded DLRC in 2005 and has over 40 years’ experience in the Pharma Industry. DLRC is the winner of multiple awards including two Queens Awards for Enterprise: International Trade in 2017 and 2021 and is a Hertfordshire Employer of the Year and Business Growth award winner. Dianne was awarded the TOPRA Inspiration award and in 2021 was winner of the Hertfordshire and Eastern Region Chambers of Commerce awards for Entrepreneur of the Year, making her a finalist in the National Chamber awards.
Boonrat Lohwongwatana
Dr. Boonrat is an Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Chulalongkorn University. Dr. Boonrat combined executive leadership skills with technical expertise in the field of precision manufacturing and materials science, he held executive positions and advisory positions. He also works closely with various companies in the electronic, automotive, biomedical and jewelry industries. He has pioneered the 3D printing of biomedical titanium for orthopedic, plastic surgery and neuro-surgery applications. As the devices are fully customized and patient-specific, the outcomes of 600+ clinical cases have demonstrated that this technology is viable and transformative for medical treatments. The TFDA approval and commercialization of research gave birth to Meticuly, a spin-off company that focuses on the platform to create on-demand devices for leading medical professors from medical schools in Thailand and South East Asia. Conformed with Thai FDA and EN ISO13485 by TUV SUD, many products are currently in commercial stage helping patients in Thailand. In December of 2021, cranifacial products have passed the USFDA 510(k) approval. Working closely with surgeons in the fields of orthopedic, neuro surgery and plastic surgery, fully anatomical devices may restore full range of motions and expedited recovery. The drop-in solution allows for minimally-invasive incision and short surgical theater time
Terry O'Neill
Dr Terry O’Neill is the Head of Health at KTN Ltd. Previous roles include Industry Sector Manager at TWI Ltd with responsibility for the medical sector. Before TWI Terry worked as a business development manager at the Norwich based technology transfer and intellectual property development company PBL. He has a background in project management in the biotechnology industry. Terry was a member of the Management Team at the physics start-up company Antenova where he managed the process of raising over £6m worth of private equity during the companies’ series B funding round. Terry has also worked in the NHS. Within the KTN Terry is the Head of Health responsible for managing the Health Team with priority activities in medicines development and manufacture, medical technologies and digital health.
James Peach
James is CEO of Human Centric Drug Discovery, an Oxford University spin-out using more human data to improve CNS drug discovery. He also advises CRUK and ABPI on commercial access to UK health data. James started his career in consulting, working with McKinsey. He then set up a cancer genetic and clinical database with CRUK, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and then set up Genomics England, focussing on sequencing and sample acquisition. He has worked in the UK Catapult system on sample and data access for UK SMEs, and as commercial director for HDRUK’s cancer data hub, as well as various pharma/techbio consulting projects. His passion is working with patients to increase the legitimate use of health data for research.
Jan-Philipp Kruse
Jan-Philipp Kruse, PhD, is Senior Director Open Innovation and Business Development and Licensing, at Bayer Pharmaceuticals. He leads Bayer’s biotech incubator CoLab in Berlin, driving company recruitment and selection, company engagement, and programming. He is also actively engaged in developing Bayer’s presence in various innovation ecosystems, including the U.S., U.K., and DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). With more than 10 years of experience in business and strategy consulting with exclusive focus on Life Sciences and R&D, Jan-Philipp has advised biotech companies, mid-to large scale pharmaceutical companies, investors, and venture funds. He has long championed novel ways of collaboration to maximize the impact for all involved parties, and ultimately patients. Jan-Philipp joined Bayer in 2015 in a leadership role of the in-house R&D consulting team before joining Open Innovation in Boston in 2018, and later Business Development and Licensing / Open Innovation in 2020. He holds a PhD from Columbia University, New York.
Edward Rainsford
Edward has experience assisting a wide variety of biotechnology and medical device companies to protect their innovations. Edward’s time working in academia helps him understand the needs of universities and spin-outs, when commercialising their research. Edward’s experience includes patent drafting, patent prosecution, European Patent Office (EPO) opposition and appeals, proceedings at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC), freedom to operate reports, and registered design filing. Edward gained his PhD in virology from Warwick University in 2006 studying rotavirus replication. After leaving Warwick University, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Virginia researching the rhabdovirus nucleocapsid protein RNA binding domain. Edward returned to the UK in 2009 to study for his masters in intellectual property law at Queen Mary University of London. Edward entered the patent profession in private practice in 2010.
Rosie Rodriguez
Rosie Rodriguez, Relation Therapeutics SVP of Growth, Head of People, Place & Projects, has over 20 years of successful Research and Development experience in Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences. She is a senior executive accomplished in Clinical Development, Alliance/ Portfolio Management, Organisational Development and Business Strategy. Rosie is passionate about building a purpose driven culture within biotech and is leading these efforts at Relation, a seed stage startup transforming drug discovery . Rosie holds a PhD from The Institute of Cancer Research (CRUK).
Janette Thomas
Janette is a PhD Biochemist and has 30years of pharmaceutical drug discovery and development experience from large Pharma (GSK) and SME’s. She has been instrumental in the early strategy and growth of small companies including Horizon Discovery. She was Director of International Operations at Atlantic Healthcare until she founded PellisCare Ltd. As a member of leadership teams, Janette has broad experience in developing company and product R&D strategy. Janette joined FiveAlarmBio (FAB) as CEO in May 2022 and recently closed a Seed investment round. FAB is a drug discovery company focused on novel approaches to anti-Aging and disease.
Vineeta Tripathi
Vineeta Tripathi is founding CEO and CSO of Vitarka Therapeutics, with more than 15 years’ experience in drug development. She has led multi-million-pound multi-site projects at KCL, UCL, Boehringer Ingelheim and Ipsen Bioinnovation. As an asset leader, she has delivered 2x therapeutics being tested in 7x clinical trials and 3x therapeutics for clinical development. She is a co-inventor on 13x granted patents. At Ipsen Bioinnovation, she was the strategic alliance leader for collaborations with Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital and Broad MIT where she sat on the Joint Steering Committee with the tech-transfer offices for in-licensing negotiations and research contracts. Previously, at KCL, she co-discovered mutations and functional properties of TDP-43 and FUS genes. These are breakthrough discoveries, with an entire disease pathology now termed as “TDP-43 proteinopathies”. Her work as first author and co-author is published in several imminent journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, etc. with a citation record of >7000. Outside of work, Vineeta is a professional dancer with a Bachelors in Bharatnatyam and Post-Diploma in Indian Classical Dance form Kathak. A fun fact about her is that she has the memory of an elephant!
Jeroen Verheyen
Jeroen drives the strategic deployment of Semarion’s cell assaying solutions across drug discovery through product commercialisation and partnering. Previously, he developed cell model for neuro-inflammation and worked with drug-delivery systems, RNAi, and stem cell therapeutics.
Jane Wall
What does your role at BIA involve?
Strategic leadership of the organisation and oversight of P&L to ensure that BIA is a sustainable, successful, and ever-evolving association. Serving the needs of existing members, growing new communities, and increasing member benefit; producing sector-leading thought leadership and events, growing influence, reach and impact.
Previous experience & achievements
25 years of experience managing teams in academic publishing and membership organisations: providing strategic and editorial direction combined with business acumen; driving operational, organisational and community development, profitability, and innovation. Previous roles at Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis (Informa PLC), Oxford Brookes University, Fire Protection Association and Food and Drink Federation. Jane holds a first degree in Italian and European Literature from Warwick University, MA in Social Anthropology from SOAS and MBA from Oxford Brookes Business School.
If you could invite any scientist to dinner, who would it be?
Galileo Galilei: having been slightly obsessed with Italian culture and the Renaissance, I was fascinated by Florence, the Medicis and their patronage of artists and scientists. I am always in awe of the bravery and foresight of individuals willing to push human understanding beyond what was/is generally acceptable at the time: Galileo was willing to risk the ire of the Inquisition and to live condemned as a heretic in times when the punishment was extreme – to become the ‘father of modern science’.
10 Upper Bank Street,
London,
E14 5JJ
This event is free to attend however attendance is restricted to attendees from start-up companies, entrepreneurs in the life sciences, and invited industry experts.
In order to ensure a critical mass of startup entrepreneurs, we are limiting numbers of service providers, beyond those sponsoring and supporting the event.
Please have a look at the sponsorship brochure.
If you wish to discuss a more bespoke option, please email Chloe: [email protected]
Chloe Hartley
What does your role at BIA involve?
Chloe's role involves planning and executing large-scale events involving conferences, dinners and exhibitions.
Previous experience
She has previously worked at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the events department, organising conferences and workshops for doctors.
If you could invite any scientist or entrepreneur to dinner, who would it be and why?
It would probably be Andrew Carnegie because he had a strong moral compass and built public libraries, theatres and child welfare centres to help better the community.
Please complete the below form to be added to the waiting list. We will contact you if a space becomes available.
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