INNOVATING PROJECTS

Through its capacity to initiate the development and establish the strategic positioning of Grenoble 's bioindustry sector, Adebag has become a key player in local economic development. Since its inception it has sought to:

• build a visible technological and industrial offering;
• set up systems to support the growth and development of firms;
• assist the international marketing of the sector;
• deploy European and int ernational vision.

Major projects reflect the scope of Adebag's work:

Biopolis : An ambitious project

It houses innovative start-up companies working in biotechnology and healthcare. Incubator for start-ups in a lightweight organization focussing on experimentation Business centre dedicated to bioindustry Services, technology platforms, company support, 2,000 sq m modular laboratory space and technical premises Official opening: 15 December 2006 => At its launch Biopolis already housed six firms in the process of being incorporated: Praxim; Koelis; EndoControl; Automatismes Informatique Industrielle; CreaCell; and Synapcell.

Adebag: the designer of Biopolis

• Project design, development, funding and follow-up
• € 7 m raised from public bodies (Grenoble Urban Area Council, Université Joseph Fourier, Rhône-Alpes Region, Isere Department, ...)
• Communication background to project; development of Biopolis' visibility and renown through the regional, national and international networks in which Adebag is involved
• Input as a consultant to local authorities, mobilizing public funds and developing bioindustry in the Grenoble area

Biopolis is now managed by Floralis, an industrial valuation subsidiary of the Joseph-Fourier University.

Innovation School

Training and interviews organised by Adebag in conjunction with the Lyon Biopôle SME action plan and with the support of the regional organisation "Incub Europe".

The ANRT seeks to tackle a difficult issue: the low participation of French SMEs. To counter this, it offers theoretical and practical training, with the key support and involvement of the technology and research centres in order to encourage and support the SMEs towards success.
This strong relationship between SMEs and research centres is the key to success and the reason for the increased participation and the greater numbers of French SMEs being chosen for European programmes.

The Innovation School , which aims to support SMEs in EU projects, has been divided into two sections:

An initial stage of group training which took place on the 20 September 2007 at Biopolis and in which ten SMEs from Grenoble and Lyon participated, including ImmunID, Kalys, Genostar, Protein'Expert, Synapcell, Siliflow, the CEA (within the framework of the Fluoptics project), Transat, Altrabio as well as the OPI.
It consisted of a training day to outline key concepts to the SMEs and more specifically, partnership working practices according to the tried and tested model of the EU FPRD projects. This day was run by specialist teachers from the Innovation School :
- Mr Philippe Arhets from the Inserm,
- Mr Michel Neu from the CEA,
- Mrs Catherine Morel-Chevillet from the CNRS,
- Mrs Carole Miranda from the ANRT.
The aim was to help businesses understand how to develop with the help of European innovation partnerships.

A second stage took place on 14 November 2007, also at Biopolis. This second stage consisted in organising individual interviews for SMEs who participated in the training session on 20 September 2007. This "scientific and technological coaching support" interview allowed each SME to hold a dialogue with three experts at once from three of the Innovation School member technology centres, the Inserm, the CEA, the CNRS and the INRA. The aim was to allow each SME, by simultaneously consulting several experts with different specialisms, to formalise its needs and the skills it requires, obtain a detailed analysis of the technical issues pertaining to its work, identify EU opportunities, source the best partner and to generate and pinpoint potential technological projects.

2 further stages have been planned for 2008 including a key stage for "IMI":

Stage 3: SME & technological research organisation partnerships
The Innovation School 's members hold a study meeting to examine projects and needs, based on previous interviews and descriptions provided by the SMEs. The selected SMEs are then monitored by a member of the School in the aim of involving them in one of its projects. Records of those which are likely to be selected later are filed so that they can be contacted should the need arise. Each SME receives a letter containing School of Innovation recommendations from one of the School's members.

Stage 4: project engineering
Once the technological research organisation and the SME are working together on a selected project, the project is allowed to develop naturally, with specific support in integrating the SMEs which are not accustomed to partnership research: researching complementary partners, developing a scientific and technological plan, assessing the project's economic impact, consortium approval, establishing a budget and compiling and submitting the project proposal.

Catalyse BioSciences and BioMarket Place

In 2007 Adebag became a member of Catalyse BioSciences, an organisation which unites local and regional business groups. Adebag is a member of the committee to be able to play a very active role in the implementation of the various initiatives.
This project will initially unfold in the form of a tool, BioBPM "Bio Business Place Mutualisée" (Shared BioBusiness Resources) which was initially developed by Club Alpha.
BioBPM is a secure IT link tool between clients, mainly from the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, and their scientific and technological service providers. It is a tool implemented by players in the field for players in the field.

The choice of the Grenoble site is a pertinent one: there are a large number of businesses and public technology platforms offering services to the industries, and there is significant interaction with the technology platform's initiatives. It was therefore wise to play a prominent role in the implementation of this tool whilst taking a more global approach…

Objectives:
To increase the visibility and credibility of new service businesses via accreditation by the regional support services
To promote better interaction between service providers and clients
To further the consolidation of the sector and its economic diversification
To accelerate businesses' growth

Technology service platforms

A workshop was organised on 29 Jan 2007 on the theme "presentation and interaction of technology service platforms". The platforms of the Science Centre, the Health Centre, NanoBio CEA and UJF were all introduced. The workshop was organised in collaboration with Rhône-Alpes Génopole, Floralis and PSB.
The result of the day was a full report presenting the different platforms which was given to all the participants on the day. It was also decided unanimously by the participants to increase the visibility of the site's players' offers and collaboration potential as well as facilitating access to external parties via a web portal.

This Technology Platforms portal has thus been integrated into the new Adebag website to allow platforms to be quickly located and identified. These have been classified by theme, and furthermore a search engine will enable the platforms to be identified using keywords. This will bring up an information page with a link to the organisation's website. We have been asked by our Lyon partners (Lyon Science Transfer) to transfer this methodology to them.

This meeting resulted in a decision to pursue more in-depth work in the perspective of economic valuation of platforms on two segments where the Grenoble site has high-performance equipment and recognised concrete skills: Proteomics and Drug Design.
Proteomics: two work meetings took place, one in May 2007 with all the players concerned and the presence of Emmanuel Maille, ex-director of Proteaxis, a proteomics company based in Lille invited by Adebag to describe the history of the business, explain the reasons for its failure and discuss the viability of an economic model in this segment. A second meeting took place in November 2007 for the presentation of a business project led by the Jérôme Garin laboratory.
Drug Design: a meeting in January 2008 to facilitate encounters and exchanges between players in the drug design equipment and services segment.

Forums « Biotech Innovation : from knowledge to value »

The international reputation of Grenoble also depends on its ability to attract leading players from the industry elsewhere in Europe and further afield to address key topics. In pursuit of this goal Adebag initiated the Biotech Innovation Forum, which became the European BioAlpine Convention in 2006.

This forum, which is entirely devoted to the process of creating added value in the life sciences has been held in Grenoble two years running. It brings together almost 150 researchers, industrialists and students to debate on the constant, interactive links between research, industry and training, while addressing specialist topics such as proteins, glycoscience and biochips.

:: Event's web site ::