On 20 September, BioM had guests from Osaka, Japan. Representatives of Biotech Remohab Inc. and the Medical School from Osaka University in Japan came to Martinsried/Munich to get informed about the location, to learn more from Bavarian start-ups and to explore collaborations.
Remohab was founded at the beginning of the year as the first spin-off of the Japan Biodesign program in Osaka and focuses on digital solutions for a better rehabilitation of patients with cardiovascular diseases. The Japanese company was mainly interested in the Bavarian location and its innovative start-ups and research groups, which are active in the areas of digital healthcare, e-health, medical devices and/or cardiovascular medicine.
After an introduction by Prof. Horst Domdey (managing director of BioM) Christina Enke-Stolle, responsible at BioM for start-up and funding, gave an overview of the activities to support start-ups in Bavaria. To get a real insight into the Bavarian market, four young companies from Munich working in the field of therapeutics and digital medicine presented their business model to the Japanese delegation. Remohab followed very attentively - the business partners are well interested in building up collaborations in Bavaria and possibly investing in located companies. In addition, the biotech venture from Osaka intends to open an overseas office in Bavaria.
The Japanese representatives were very impressed of the activities at BioM to support young entrepreneurs and would like to learn more from the experienced founder scene in Bavaria. They were also very interested in cooperating with the innovation drivers in their business.
Prof. Horst Domdey commented the meeting positively as well: "The long-term cooperation between BioM and the Osaka region is fruitful and we are very pleased that concrete projects and activities are becoming mutually beneficial."
Since 2011, BioM has a transnational biotechnology and life sciences cooperation arrangement with Osaka Prefecture and the partnercluster Osaka BioHeadquarters. The partnership includes exchanging information about new technologies in the respective region, industrial developments and academic potentials. This should pave the way for industry/industry and industry/academy co-operations between both regions. In October 2017, for the second time, a partnering conference focused on biopharmaceutics and medical technology will take place, which BioM actively supports and where 13 Bavarian companies will participate.
Our partnership with Japan is further tightened by the project InnoMuNiCH, developed within the scope of the Leading-Edge Cluster initiative by BioM and promoted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It supports the establishment of a platform for joint research and development ventures between Bavarian companies and Japanese research facilities or pharmaceutical companies. Here as well, new and in-depth contacts with Japanese business partners are arising currently in the field of personalized medicine.