ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club: A sustainable triple helix shared and modular structure. for. marketing and promotion

Transcription

1 Part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club: A sustainable triple helix shared and modular structure for marketing and promotion of Baltic Sea Region Health and Bio Economy SMEs 1

2 Index: 1. Introduction 2. ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club: Two initial key modules (a) ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days (b) Scanbaltbusiness.com 3. Initial activities of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club 4. Sustainability and future of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club (a) Sustainability of existing modules (b) The future and sustainability of future modules Annual Idea Competition in Health Care Accelerace Life and Nordic-Baltic Accelerace Investment Fund ScanBalt Educational Platform to increase the entrepreneurial spirit, support the innovation processes and nurture the SME s ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club Press Study Tours 5. Declaration of support 2

3 1. Introduction ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club is being established as a triple helix structure for various shared modular business services owned and driven by the individual triple helix BSR clusters and/or their association ScanBalt fmba for promotion and marketing of health and bio economy SMEs in the Baltic Sea Region. This is following recommendations in the BSHR HealthPort Innovation agenda Driving crosssectoral innovation in health and life sciences released Nov The ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club has been developed in parallel with the innovation agenda as a pilot structure and front-runner for implementation of the agenda. The ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club serves as an umbrella for a multitude of coordinated activities applying to shared visions and values for the development of ScanBalt BioRegion and utilizing a common communication and coordination structure. Otherwise the individual activities act independently. This is a bottom-up approach combined with a top-down advisory structure which has been developed, tested and applied for ScanBalt BioRegion 1 since 2001 and for the EUSBSR flagship ScanBalt HealthRegion 2 since The ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club is seen as a valuable triple helix tool to primarily: (1) Support and being an add-on to regional and individual efforts promoting products and services (2) Assist to create a BSR business identity within health and bio economy (3) Promote globalisation of regional BSR health and bio economy clusters and their business competencies, products and services (4) Promote collaboration between BSR triple helix clusters creating a platform for further development of shared modules and tools The BSHR HealthPort innovation agenda recommends the following: Implementation & Marketing Efforts to implement products and services in the market are mostly underestimated. Thoroughly prepared market access however is crucial for the success and growth of companies in health and life sciences. It will be essential to offer specific instruments to prepare SMEs for international market access. Recommendations:

4 Provide a platform with modular shared services for SMEs that comprise marketing and dissemination of final products or services. Organise platforms for cooperation between SMEs offering complementary services, Provide case specific support for transnational market implementation with a focus on BSR macro-region, Support strategic communication with all relevant actors for products and services from SMEs. It is believed that ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club serves to implement these recommendations based on a triple helix set-up and working mode. 2. ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club: Two initial key modules (a) ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days The concept ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days is proposed to be short open 1-day events incl lunch where efforts to promote BSR business opportunities are discussed. They will be organized by various ScanBalt BioRegion clusters thereby rotating between countries, regions and cities. The regional triple helix clusters and networks as members of ScanBalt fmba approved the concept at the ScanBalt General Assembly 16 Oct 2013 in Gdansk following discussions at the board (ExCo) of ScanBalt. The basic concept for ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days: 1. Preferably 1-2 annual events are labelled ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days 2. ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days shall have a BSR dimension, not only regional or national 3. Any regional/national cluster or network or other relevant entity may with a short note to ExCo suggest an event to be labelled as a ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day and should include a draft program 4. Any ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day has to include minimum a plenary or a session which specifically deals with trans-national business issues in BSR (e.g. BSR business or innovation agenda setting, trans-national procurement in BSR, promoting start-ups in ScanBalt BioRegion etc.) 5. Any ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day has to include the logo and links to both and on all virtual and printed material 6. ScanBalt will have logo and link to any ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day on the front of and 4

5 7. ScanBalt will include logo, link and teaser to any ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day in ScanBalt News. 8. ScanBalt will publish information, news and follow-up stories related to any ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day. 9. ScanBalt will distribute information about ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days via direct mailing 10. The organiser has all financial responsibility for the event 11. The organiser does not pay any marketing fee to ScanBalt BioTurku/Turku Science Park as partner of BSHR HealthPort and co-founder of ScanBalt at the ScanBalt ExCo 16 Oct 2013 expressed interest in organizing the first ScanBalt BioRegion Business Day to take place in (b) Scanbaltbusiness.com The web tool provides the following benefits for SMEs and the regional clusters (coordinated with ScanBalt News, and the ScanBalt BioRegion Community on LinkedIn): Builds awareness for organizations, products and services Strengthens presence in the Baltic Sea Region and globally Each day a company portrait highlighted Product and company news in ScanBalt News (nearly subscribers) and on Company portraits in ScanBalt News and on CEO interviews and industry opinions in ScanBalt News and on Company portraits distributed in the ScanBalt BioRegion network Invitations to present at ScanBalt press study tours Individualized solutions upon agreement ScanBaltbusiness.com promoted at events, conferences, fairs etc. Support ScanBalt BioRegion to be a globally competitive health and bio economy Free of charge for both advertisers and users For the users scanbaltbusiness.com assists to identify suppliers and business partners in ScanBalt BioRegion, provides information on regional clusters, networks and competencies. Users can sign up and receive a quarterly issue of ScanBalt News (free of costs) plus sign in to the ScanBalt BioRegion Community on LinkedIn. 3. Initial Activities of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club 5

6 The ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club initiated various activities in 2013: - The web tool scanbaltbusiness.com launched early The EU has part-financed the technical development of ScanBaltbusiness.com with a technical assistance grant no: 2011CE160AT059. All other development efforts have been financed by regional triple helix clusters and networks and other organisations via their membership fee to ScanBalt fmba or via in kind contributions in the development phase SMEs and other organisations have chosen to apply scanbaltbusiness.com as a marketing support tool company portraits have been brought in ScanBalt News in scanbaltbusiness.com advertisers participated in the HealthPort press study tour May 2013 to Copenhagen - 6 news stories about scanbaltbusiness.com advertisers brought in ScanBalt News, on and in the ScanBalt BioRegion Community on LinkedIn. 4. Sustainability and future of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club A key issue is to ensure the sustainability of the shared modular structure in ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club and add further modules to the structure in order to constantly strengthen the relevance for the ScanBalt BioRegion business community and adapt to their needs and customers demands. (a) Sustainability of existing modules The sustainability of the two existing ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club modules is guaranteed via: - The EU has supported the technical development of scanbaltbusiness.com with a technical assistance grant for the EUSBSR flagship ScanBalt HealthRegion, grant no: 2011CE160AT All maintenance and further development of the web based ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club module scanbaltbusiness.com will be financed in the coming years by the regional triple helix clusters, networks and other organizations via their membership in ScanBalt fmba as decided by ScanBalt ExCo. - Financing of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days and the choice of prefered financing model is entirely the responsibility of the regional organizer thereby following a basic concept for the annual ScanBalt Forum running smoothly for 12 consecutive editions since

7 The experience from ScanBalt Forum has proven to be a very efficent model for mobilizing regional and national financing for trans-national events in ScanBalt BioRegion as it combines regional added value with BSR added value in a win-win situation. Turku Science Park/BioTurku has at ScanBalt ExCo Oct 2013 declared interest in organizing the first ScanBalt Business Day in (b) The future and sustainability of future modules BSHR HealthPort promoted the creation of additional three (3) modular business tools operating independently and with different stakeholders but mutually coordinated and referring to a common vision. These tools focus on and support the development of innovations in the early and mature stage and are thus important along various steps in the pathway from idea to market: Annual Idea Competition in Health Care In BSHR HealthPort two innovation competitions were organized for early phase ideas. The aims were to enhance the commercial utilization of the ideas and inventions from the health care sector, to promote the reduction of health care costs and enhance SME access to the BSR health care market. The outcome and experience gained created a concept for an annual BSR idea competition. The concept consists of a process for the competition as well as documents, templates and the e-tools required. The competition is proposed to be open to individuals, research and development teams and SMEs from the BSR and the Northern Netherlands. The scope of the competition is multidisciplinary offering the possibility of specific annual themes. In the idea selection process (below) the application and evaluation is done online, whereas selecting the winning project(s), forming the support team and needed actions are done in both close and open cooperation. 7

8 The prize would be financial and coordination support for business development in order to take the innovation further on in the development process. This is coordinated by the organizing clusters. Direct funding to the teams may be limited, while the prospects of reaching customers and investors are of significant value as the ideas reaches the whole BSR market. The innovation competition module is currently exploring possibilities for financing via the existing EU pre-seed project PATHOS 3 coordinated by Region Västra Götaland. Accelerace Life and Nordic-Baltic Accelerace Investment Fund 45 The ScanBalt BioRegion tops the world in clinical medicine research, but we do not see enough startup proposals. Accelerace Life (AL) is a potential instrument to address the problem. A special financing instrument, the Nordic-Baltic Accelerace Investment Fund (NBAIF) is on the drawing board. AL is a cross-border acceleration platform for health-tech start-up companies with shared methodology, networks, expertise and resources. The most remarkable benefits definitely include a wider spectrum for soft funding, sharing of experience and the possibility to test prototypes in different markets at the same time more easily and cost-efficiently. For the more advanced stage, there are plans to create a special financing instrument the NBAIF, which is meant to serve as support mechanism for the companies that have been through the AL Programme. The sources of capital for NBAIF are planned to be multiple: from the EU and national financial instruments that will be suitable for fund-of-fund investments in early stage funds to private capital. Al and NBAIF are currently exploring possibilities for financing via the existing EU pre-seed project PATHOS 6 ScanBalt Educational Platform to increase the entrepreneurial spirit, support the innovation processes and nurture the SME s The decreasing innovative and entrepreneurial environment in the Baltic region is recognized by the European Union and they have developed several programmes to conquer this problem, and their objectives are to, among others, increase the entrepreneurial spirit, support the innovation processes and nurture the SME s

9 One major activity of ScanBalt BioRegion and the EUSBSR flagship ScanBalt HealthRegion is to bridge innovative SME s and health care organizations to strengthen the BSR health economy. A major issue for the region is the competitiveness of SME s, and lack of the innovative capabilities of the health care organizations. Training to bring up the competence of the management was in BSHR HealthPort brought out to be a key factor for the success of the SME. Therefore, a concept for a web-based educational platform, ScanBalt Educational Platform (SBEP) was developed. Such an e-learning platform should be combined with local mentoring in these courses, too boost the regional development. The mission of the SBEP is to increase the entrepreneurial attitude and environment and the innovation spirit, for and within health and life science in the Baltic Sea Region. This is highly important in order to drive the growth of the region and to enhance the competitiveness of the companies. The needs for these activities are widely supported by the European Innovation agenda. A BSHR HealthPort report has addressed the questions regarding the legal structure for the educational platform as well as the course content and marketing of ScanBalt Educational Platform plus the potential financing. ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club Press Study Tours The concept for ScanBalt BioRegion press study tours has with success been developed together with the European Science Journalist Association (EUSJA), the first one taking place in 2007 to Helsinki co-funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers/Nordic Innovation Center. Subsequently press study tours took place in 2009 to Estonia co-financed by Enterprise Estonia and in 2011 to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern co-financed by Mecklenburg- Vorpommern/BioCon Valley. The BSHR HealthPort Press Study Tour invited journalists for 3 days visit to Copenhagen 28 to 30 May 2013 and focused on commercialization of ideas from clinics and hospitals and gave an insight into the Danish health and biotech sector as a practical example. During the tour was discussed the initial version the innovation agenda. Many companies, biotech business associations and networks together with universities and science parks presented and discussed with the journalist during the press study tour. Press study tours should now be an integrated part of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club due to the significant interest among companies and commercial providers. Financing of ScanBalt BioRegion Business Club Press Study Tours is the responsibility of the regional organizer thereby following the basic concepts for the annual ScanBalt Forum and 9

10 ScanBalt Bioregion Business Days. The Press Study Tours may with advantage be connected to either of the two events. When relevant Press Study Tours may also be inserted into various co-financed project activities. 10

11 5. Declaration of Support ScanBalt fmba representing triple helix clusters and networks in the Baltic Sea Region and in Northern Netherlands and the EUSBSR flagship ScanBalt HealthRegion (7.4) hereby declares: (1) ScanBalt Business Club as a modular shared triple helix structure is approved by the boards of ScanBalt and ScanBalt HealthRegion and constitutes an integrated part of development strategies for ScanBalt BioRegion and ScanBalt HealthRegion for the coming years (2) ScanBalt BioRegion Business Days will be promoted to members and potential members of ScanBalt and ScanBalt HealthRegion stakeholders in order to annually identify 1-2 regional organizers based on regionally independent financing models proven efficient for the annual ScanBalt Forum since 2001 (3) That ScanBalt fmba will provide financing for maintenance and further development of the web tool scanbaltbusiness.com and the coordinated efforts with ScanBalt News, and the ScanBalt BioRegion Community on LinkedIn. (4) The Annual Idea Competition in Health Care is an integrated part of the EU pre-seed project PATHOS which is a process identifying future financing (5) To promote the Accelerace Life and Nordic-Baltic Accelerace Investment Fund to relevant regional and national stakeholders. It should be noted that two AL and NBAIF key personalities are the HealthPort partners Jaanus Pikani and Tero Piispanen who are both also vice chairmen of ScanBalt. (6) To promote the ScanBalt Educational Platform to relevant regional and national stakeholders. It should be noted that the key personalities Boo Edgar and Frank Graage represents respectively University of Gothenburg and Steinbeis Team Northeast who are both represented at the board of ScanBalt. Wolfgang Blank Daumantas Matulis Jaanus Pikani Chairman of ScanBalt Board member of ScanBalt Vice Chairman of ScanBalt Board member of Board member of Chairman of the board ScanBalt HealthRegion ScanBalt HealthRegion Tartu Biotechnology Park CEO BioCon Valley Head of Department CEO BioTechnikum Greifswald Vilnius University Tero Piispanen Boo Edgar Frank Graage Vice Chairman of the board Professor Board member of ScanBalt Program director HealthBio Gothenburg University Director Steinbeis Team Northeast 11

12 Katarzyna Dembowska Peter Frank Head of ScanBalt Liason Office Pomerania Director of InnoBaltica ScanBalt General Secretary Board member of ScanBalt Health Region 12