From Research to Product

The High-Tech Transfer Day promotes a culture of exchange and start-ups in the Potsdam Science Park. What does it take to bring an idea from research to industry? What conditions promote this transfer? How do you start a business and what hurdles do you have to overcome? These are some of the questions that were discussed on November 8 at the Hightech Transfer Day at the Potsdam Science Park in Golm. “The High-Tech Transfer Day is an exhibition, knowledge exchange and network meeting at the same time, it provides an overview of the latest research and products, imparts knowledge for successful technology transfer and enables the initiation of cooperation,” says Agnes von Matuschka, Managing Director of Standortmanagement Golm, which organized the one-day conference together with Potsdam Transfer. “Our goal is to closely interlink science and business in the Potsdam area and thus create a network for innovation in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.”

This year’s kick-off was given by Peter Albiez, Chairman of the Management Board of Pfizer Germany and spokesman for the Berlin-Brandenburg Healthcare Industry Cluster. With regard to the life sciences, he underlined how important it is for the visibility of science locations that research finds its way into practice. “Where translation works, centres of gravity are created that connect business and science and, once they reach a certain size, attract resources, investment and talent – this is a self-reinforcing process,” said Albiez. “Translation is already working in Golm, there is an impressive scientific environment and successful spin-offs.”

Albiez called for even stronger networking between scientific institutes, companies and startups – not only in the Potsdam Science Park, but in the entire Berlin-Brandenburg region. Compared to the USA, for example, there is often still too little cooperation and research data far too often ends up in silos. “I am convinced that the region has the potential to become a leading international life sciences location and to play a pioneering role in the medical care of the future,” said Albiez. “But to do this, we have to think big and connect the various actors much more strongly than before.”

To keep reminding people of the importance of clusters

Oliver Stenzel from Novartis Germany emphasized how important clusters – e.g. the Cluster Healthcare Berlin-Brandenburg (HealthCapital Berlin-Brandenburg) – are in enabling cooperation and creating innovations. “Regular and close contact within such clusters creates a trust that is needed to address half-baked ideas, to try something out together and perhaps also to bring it to success,” says Stenzel. “We are called upon to keep reminding politicians of the importance of clusters.”

The High-Tech Transfer Day is also a forum for the exchange of experiences. Here, research institutes and founders talk about how they put their ideas and scientific successes into practice, create products or apply for patents. Leonard John, who develops new fluorescent dyes at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Potsdam in Golm, reported from his own experience what it entails to apply for a patent in Germany – which tricks help, how you can save money and what mistakes you should not make. Especially for startups and small companies, such insider information is useful. Several service providers who support startups also introduced themselves on the sidelines of the event. DIN e.V., for example, takes over the application for DIN standards or standardization, which can be of great added value, especially for smaller companies.

Research innovations from the Potsdam Science Park

Several research groups from the Potsdam Science Park reported on the latest products that they have successfully developed based on their research ideas in the panel “Cooperation and Exploitation with the Economy”. Marlen Malke from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research presented a product in the development of which four Fraunhofer Institutes were involved. “Our goal was to develop a synthetic rubber with the properties of natural rubber,” Malke said. The result is BISYKA, a biomimetic synthetic rubber that can be used for tire production and is superior to natural rubber in terms of rolling resistance and abrasion properties. “The product has met with great interest, we have already applied for a patent and are in negotiations with major manufacturers.”

Helmut Remde, also from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research, presented RECAST, a new material for orthoses, which he and his team developed in cooperation with the company Nölle Kunststofftechnik. Orthoses, for example, are used to immobilize bone fractures. Based on the bio-based plastic polylactic acid, the team designed a formulation for a material that makes the new orthoses more malleable than conventional ones – and that is also recyclable.

And Arren Bar-Even from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology spoke about the company he co-founded, b.fab GmbH, which markets a promising method that converts climate-damaging CO2 into fuels of the future through electricity and microbes.

Funding as a seal of approval and signal for investments

The subsequent panel discussion focused primarily on the financing of start-ups. Peter Sondermann from Tacalyx, a successful spin-off of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in the Potsdam Science Park, talked about his founding experiences. In 2019, the startup achieved what many would like to see: Investors, in this case Hightech Gründerfonds, have provided the young company with investments of seven million euros in seed capital for the development of novel immunotherapies to fight cancer. The founding process took two years, from the idea to the business plan to signed contracts with the investors. With the help of a discovery platform, Tacalyx now wants to identify and validate so-called TACAs (“tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens”) and generate “lead” molecules that target these tumor-specific structures. “We want to use the money to develop the prototype of a  pharmaceutical preparation,” said Tacalyx co-founder Peter Sondermann. “We will then need another round of financing for the production of the preparation.”

The fact that companies with good ideas like Tacalyx, which are still far from the market, can raise sufficient start-up capital is not a matter of course, as became apparent during the panel discussion. “It was important for us that Hightech Gründerfonds supported us, so we had a seal of approval that attracted other investors,” says Sondermann. Pierre Tangermann, who is working with PerioTrap Pharmaceuticals on a novel therapy against periodontitis that aims to selectively kill pathogens with so-called small molecular weight inhibitors, has had a similar experience. PerioTrap Pharmaceuticals also first turned to Hightech Gründerfonds (HTGF), which supports technology companies coming from research with venture capital. “If you have HTGF on board, you have a good basis for advertising for other donors,” said Tangermann.

Also on the podium was Lena Krzyzak from the management of Hightech Gründerfonds,
two-thirds of which is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, as well as one-third by industrial partners. “We play a central role for companies that are still far from the market and do not get money from venture capital players,” she said. Your tip for undecided founders? “Be brave, approach us and if you don’t see yourself as a scientist in a managing director role, you should still approach investors and find someone else for this role.”

Animal Stress and Sustainable Nutrition – Innovations in Entrepreneur Storytelling

Good ideas were also at the end of the high-tech transfer days. Startups presented their innovations briefly and concisely in entrepreneur storytelling. AniTech, for example, launched sensors that farmers can use to digitally monitor the health of cows on their smartphones. The sensors measure rumination rate, breathing rate and vocalizations – and sound the alarm at an early stage in the event of abnormalities. The start-up hyperSpecs presented its idea of a new type of spectral camera, and the team from the start-up Vlyfoods presented milk substitute made from pea protein, a new food that contains more protein than conventional cow’s milk and is also more sustainable. “The entrepreneur storytelling has once again shown the start-up potential there is in Potsdam and Brandenburg,” says Agnes von Matuschka. “We hope that the High-Tech Transfer Day will continue to contribute to more and more scientists using their good ideas in the future.”

Numerous companies, business promoters and investors of the Potsdam Science Park presented comprehensive advice and information on new products, materials and services at various exhibition stands as part of the High-Tech Transfer Day.

Founders & start-ups at the High-Tech Transfer Day

Tacalyx
therapeutics targeting cancer-specific carbohydrate antigens
on the surface of metastatic malignant tumors

PerioTrap Pharmaceuticals
hochspezifisch gegen Parodontitis

AniTech
innovatives, sensorgestütztes Frühwarnsystem für tierischen Stress

hyperSpecs
innovative Spektralkamera + Software + webbasierte Datenanalyse

Vlyfoods
Milchersatz aus Erbsenprotein

Aussteller beim 8. Hightech Transfertag

Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH
Detlef Hegemann Immobilien Management GmbH
DIN e.V.
Fa. Pohl + Jehne Zerspanungstechnik GmbH
Fraunhofer Leistungszentrum
glyconetBB e.V.
IHK Potsdam
Ingenieurbüro Botos
Landeshauptstadt Potsdam
Novartis Pharma GmbH
Photonic Insights
Potsdam Science Park
ProPotsdam GmbH
summit properties
Universität Potsdam | Potsdam Transfer
Wirtschaftsförderung Brandenburg | WFBB

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About the Conference

The Hightech Transfer Day is an event of Standortmanagement Golm GmbH (co-financed by the European Union with ERDF funds) in cooperation with Potsdam Transfer (University of Potsdam) and in cooperation with: Brandenburg Economic Development Corporation | WFBB, Cluster HealthCapital Berlin-Brandenburg, IHK Potsdam and State of Brandenburg.

Picture: © Martin Jehnichen