The Human Brain Project (HBP) Innovation Team is delighted to share that on May 30th and 31st, the HBP Fundraising Bootcamp for start-ups took place at the EBRAINS headquarters in Brussels. Over the course of two full days, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) successfully brought together nine HBP entrepreneurs with six recognized international business angels and venture capital institutions from Europe and the USA. The event also welcomed members of the European Innovation Council (EIC). The initiative provided an opportunity for reflection and discussion on the most relevant challenges faced by technology leaders and researchers working in the Neuroscience and Neurocomputing areas. The participating organizations shared their vast experience in financing, supporting, and mentoring brain health-related innovation projects and AI developments.

During the first day, representatives from EBRAINS and the HBP Innovation team presented the achievements and technology transferring challenges of the HBP over the last few years. Our EIC guest, Andreas Lymberis – Head of Sector E.3.2 EIC Challenge-based Accelerator of the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) – also highlighted the relevance of the European Commission instruments for providing practical support to start-ups and SMEs, and how the EC facilitates venture building and networking. A very dynamic and reflective atmosphere encouraged participants to discuss ideas, address entrepreneurship questions and concerns, and explore eventual opportunities for funding. In a second round of presentations, our investors, Antonio Limatola Asabys Partners, Ciara Henessy NLC The European Healthtech Venture Builder, Caroline Amblard-Sai Angels Santé, Charles Sidman ECS Capital Partners, Sri Rao and Alberto Calero Machine Ventures, and Christian Suojanen Broadreach Global, provided the participants with very practical advice and shared their vision on initiating a business in the brain technologies sector.

During the second day of the bootcamp, every HBP entrepreneur  gave a pitch for their technology solutions: Taiana Deodato and Alessandra Franceschini presented the Light-sheet microscopy ´Clepio Biotech´; Michael Hopkins and Jakub Fil described the Neuromorphic computing mechanism for low-energy edge/ IoT applications; Jens Bruchertseifer presented the Neuroscientific simulation tool & inspection of AI spiking neural networks;  Giulia De Bonis and Robin Gutzen gave an interesting overview of the Collaborative Brain Wave Analysis Pipeline; Birgit Schaffhauser and Evita Mailli explained the potential of the Medical Informatics Platform; and Rui Ribeiro showcased the Cutting-edge platform for early identification of new drug candidates. Finally, three already established HBP start-ups, namely the “Phosphoenix” on a prosthesis for blindness, by Bert Monna and Lisa Kirchberger; “Intrinsic Powers” on the tracking & recovering of consciousness in clinical practice, by Marcello Massimini; and the "VB-Tech” on the Virtual Epileptic Patient, by Jean-Marc Ferrier, presented their business experience and future plans.

Following this two-day meeting, the UPM will now monitor the activities initiated between the participating start-ups and investors, and analyse the impact achieved. 

The UPM has a broad experience in providing dissemination, innovation and exploitation services to European Commission research projects. This bootcamp is a perfect example of the work that its Innovation team can do, transversally and internationally, to support technologic and scientific work on the road towards commercialisation.