Scinus Cell Expansion’s experience of the Start.Smart.Global program
09 October 2019
The introduction of new treatments to the market involves a long, complicated and costly process. This makes global expansion difficult for life sciences start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In order to enter these complex markets outside Europe the training project “Start.Smart.Global” provides start-ups and SMEs, whose goal it is to enter the Japanese and South-Korean life-science market, with a starter kit to optimise their market entries. The Start.Smart.Global is funded by EIT Health. Scinus Cell Expansion BV is one of the eleven companies who got selected and will take part in this unique training programme.
Scinus is a Dutch company who develops and distributes bioreactor technology for stem cell cultivation. Their mission is to make cell therapies accessible for a global patient population by means of developing an innovative bioreactor platform technology for the cell therapy industry. However, this can be time-consuming, tedious and consultation intensive to introduce complex and new cutting-edge technologies. Start.Smart.Global will help them to speed up this process.
One of the reasons Scinus was interested in taking part in the Start.Smart.Global program is because the program is focused on the Japanese and the South-Korean life-science markets. Japan and South-Korea have a number of prominent groups within the field of stem cell therapy, which make them hold significant opportunities for Scinus. They got selected after following an intensive selection process which included proposing their business case and their international exploitation strategy. The process was positively evaluated by a dedicated sector-specific jury.
In the first half of 2019, Scinus’ business and market entry need were identified, to reach their goal. This was followed by an intensive on-site training which was carried out on 8-11 July in Paris for Korea and on 9-12 September in Munich for Japan. The on-site training sessions were divided into two parts, a cultural workshop on the one side, and a business workshop on the other side.
Michiel Jannink – CEO at Scinus: “During the workshop I was intrigued by the effect that
cultural aspects and language barriers have on doing business.”
Right now, Scinus Cell Expansion BV is on a roadshow in Japan putting their achieved skills in practice. Additionally, they will be visiting South-Korea for another roadshow. These roadshows are part of the Start.Smart.Global program. They give Scinus the opportunity to meet local players and understand the local innovation trends, which will help Scinus to enter these markets successfully.
Michiel Jannink – CEO at Scinus: “We are looking forward to get a good view of the current developments in both countries and also strengthen the relationship with Bio-M and Medicin and the other participants of the program. During the trade missions we hope to arouse interest, get feedback on our technologies and extent our network.”
Start.Smart.Global is a promising program, which will help Scinus expand its business to Japan and South-Korea. Another blog will be up after Scinus Cell Expansion will be back from both roadshows in which they will share their experience and expertise gained during the program.
EIT Health is supported by EIT, a body of the European Union. We want to thank Michiel Jannink for sharing his expertise. If you have any comments or questions about the Start.Smart.Global program, or if you want toshare your own story, please contact us via info@biotechnologycommunity.com or +31 630076674.
