The Danish Startup Ecosystem Guide - Magasin - Side 53
network, a combination that has worked
really well for us. As healthcare professionals, we have a deep knowledge of the
problem we want to solve, but we have no
experience with business models, IP or regulatory strategies. We have gained this in a
relatively short time and have so far been
successful in developing Ampa - it has
been a steep but fantastic learning curve,”
the two entrepreneurs explain.
With a fantastic pitch in Pumpehuset, Ampa Medical won BII’s Demo Day 2022
health sector - including health tech.
Because even though Denmark has a
good ecosystem for startups, too little
research is currently being translated
into solutions that benefit patients and
society,” he explains.
In 2018, the Novo Nordisk Foundation
established the BioInnovation Institute
(BII) and in 2021 BII became an independent commercial foundation with
commitments of up to DKK 3.5 billion
over 10 years. The mission is to develop a
world-class Danish health tech and life
science ecosystem and catalyse the commercialisation of new solutions through
startups and spinouts.
Maturing for the market
BII offers a 12-month incubator and accelerator programme that helps researchers, early-stage startups and established
companies to mature their product and
idea, develop a business plan, establish
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networks and raise capital.
“Innovation is strongest when it is
demand-driven. That’s why for many
health tech entrepreneurs, it’s important
to understand the market mechanisms
early on in the process. There can be a
lot of good ideas that make life easier
for people, but if you want it to actually
become a business and a product that
makes a difference, you have to work
with the barriers that exist in the market,” says Jens Nielsen.
In particular, the commercial sparring has been vital for the startup Ampa,
which is behind a new innovative solution for people living with an ileostomy.
The company’s founders Marie Filippson
Parslov and Cecilie Ammitzbøll both come
from the healthcare sector and have benefited from BII’s programme for startups.
“At BII, the financial support comes
with training in business development,
personalised sparring and access to a large
Role models create culture
To encourage more researchers to turn
their research into entrepreneurship,
the BioInnovation Institute (BII) organises an annual award to recognise
researchers working at the intersection
of life sciences and entrepreneurship.
The academic world plays a major role
in the health of the ecosystem.
“What you often see in such successful ecosystems is that it starts with role
models, which creates more role models
and so on. In these places, it has become
part of the culture that universities
naturally also incubate companies and
researchers become entrepreneurs. We
would like to strengthen this approach
in Denmark,” Nielsen explains.
The development is slowly under way.
Entrepreneurship has been a focus area
at universities for several years now,
while the major Danish hospitals have
embedded innovation centres in their
daily workflow. All in all, it paints a
positive picture, says Jens Nielsen.
“We have a huge potential in Denmark and I believe Copenhagen will be
an epicentre for health tech startups
in the future. We have all the competences and ingredients: top-class
international research, a world-leading
healthcare system and a tradition of
healthcare industry. If we can capitalise on this, we can become a European
beacon in this field.”
FACTS
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•
•
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75% of startups in BII are first-time
founders
80 startups supported in total
71 million euros in aid granted to
companies by BII
382 Million euros raised by BII
companies
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