The event, sponsored by Taylor Vinters and Handelsbanken, consisted of a varied programme of networking, one to one meetings and company presentations, interspersed with keynote presentations from Ruth McKernan, Chief Executive, Innovate UK, Richard Mason, Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome Trust.
Derek Jones, Babraham Bioscience Technologies Chief Executive, who chaired the event commented: “BIC is a fantastic opportunity to connect companies seeking investment with some of the industry’s most experienced and seasoned investors, as well as show off the Babraham Research Campus. Our mission has always been to support, nurture and promote life science in Cambridge and the wider UK and BIC enables us to do just that. Many of the companies presenting here already call Babraham home and we’ve watched first hand as they have grown and developed. Over the last few years companies on the campus have raised over £500M in equity investment. This event gives us the opportunity to further support that growth by getting the right people together to initiate the next stage of development for many of these organisations.”
PhoreMost, a new-model drug discovery company based at the Babraham Research Campus, was amongst the companies presenting during the afternoon ‘Scale-up Success Stories’ session. Using its core expertise to open up new ‘druggable’ target space and working with a global network of co-invested academic and industrial collaboration partners, PhorseMost aims to bring a wide array of novel ‘targeted’ therapies more efficiently to market and pass these cost savings onto patients. PhoreMost CEO, Chris Torrance - former founder of Horizon Discovery – explained why being based in the UK and more specifically at Babraham Research Campus was a very easy decision to make: “The UK is most definitely substance over style, combining top level science with acolyte talent to create a hub for precision medicine. Within the Cambridge cluster, the campus is a true innovation centre, a highly collaborative, multi-cultural, multi-generational, intellectual environment with a key mix of academia, SME’s and investors. This, combined with the highly supportive management team and infrastructure, creates a great vibe, the place has an exciting buzz about it.”
The conference was held in The Cambridge Building (pictured), at the heart of the campus. Recently completed, The Cambridge Building combines cutting-edge design to create leading-class facilities, which include a 200-capacity auditorium, flexible meeting spaces, full catering and hospitality services and ample free parking.
The Babraham Research Campus is a leading hub of bioscience research and innovation that supports early stage and growing biomedical enterprises. At the centre of the Campus is the world-class Babraham Institute, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC, and BBT, its trading subsidiary, through which the campus is being managed and further developed.
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