Spin-off Coaching - Tricks of the Trade

Ascenion handles some 10 business ideas on average per year, about half of which usually culminate in a start-up. The team has so far coached about 30 ventures during their foundation and corporate growth. Although individual endeavours have run out of steam or disappeared from the market, remarkably many of them are well on track, providing altogether some 400 jobs.

What makes the difference? Based on its experience, Ascenion has put together a very personal list of lessons learned from working with the spin-offs from its partner institutions. more

Creating Value through Spin-offs

Questions to Christian Stein, CEO of Ascenion

Why does Ascenion - and not the originating research institution - receive a share of equity in the spin-off?

We receive equity in return for the coaching and consulting services we provide during the foundation process. Commonly, the originating research institution has no interest in taking shares, for many reasons: Being a shareholder may come into conflict with its non-profit status, it may raise undue liability risks and, more

Inventor Profile

Thomas Werner: Absolute loyalty

Opening a new field
Scientists had just succeeded in deciphering the first adenovirus genome, when Thomas Werner started as postdoc at the Helmholtz Zentrum München (formerly GSF) in 1988. At that time, bioinformatics was still in its infancy. "We had the sequence, but no appropriate software to analyze it," Werner remembers. more

Starving for answers: DPZ helps understand chronic wasting disease

Back in the 1990s, the spread of "mad cow disease" (BSE) and its possible transmission to humans sparked consumer panic in Europe. Today, the topic has almost disappeared from the public media. Not so from public research: scientists at the German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen have since built a substantial body of knowledge on the disease, more

Client Portfolio

Ascenion has attracted two further life-science institutions as partners, one from the Helmholtz and one from the Leibniz Association. Ascenion's team will support both institutions and their scientists in all aspects of IP asset management, from scouting to commercialization.

DZNE: New Partner from the Helmholtz Association

In Germany alone, around one million people aged over 65 suffer from dementia, and about 200,000 further cases are diagnosed each year. The growing prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders in the ageing society puts a huge burden on those affected, their families and public health care systems. more

IUF: New Partner from the Leibniz Association

The Environmental Health Research Institute (Leibniz Institut für umweltmedizinische Forschung an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, IUF) was founded in 2001 to help understand, prevent and treat environmentally induced human diseases. more

Spinning Innovation

iThera Medical: Insights from the Inside

Founded only in February this year, iThera Medical has already reaped a startling number of awards: it received the BioVaria Spin-off Award, was elected among the 10 finalists of the Science4Life contest, and - probably most relevant to its business - attracted a GO-Bio Award as one of six winners selected from a total of 54 proposals. more

Noteworthy

VIP - Federal funding for translational research

In May 2010, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research launched a new support program for validating the potential of scientific research ("Validierung des Innovationspotenzials wissenschaftlicher Forschung - VIP"). more

Fostering Networks

BioVaria 2010: On schedule despite volcanic ash

20 April 2010
Thirteen European technology transfer organizations from Germany, Austria, France and Norway teamed up for BioVaria 2010, presenting over 50 licensable biopharmaceutical inventions to business developers and investors from the international biopharmaceutical industry.more

KTT / NGFN roundtable on IP issues

28 April 2010, Munich
The Technology Transfer Competence Centre (KTT) initiated and organized a roundtable for professionals responsible for the identification, protection and commercialization of IP in the German Programme for Medical Genome Research (NGFN). more

ASTP: 10 years of sharing technology transfer experience across Europe

27 - 28 May 2010, Paris
Ten years ago, around 100 people met in Paris to establish the ASTP as the first pan-European technology transfer organization. It has since grown to become Europe's largest independent organization in the field, in contact with around 1,000 IP professionals a year. more

Latest Technology Offers

This Information Letter is periodically published by Ascenion GmbH.
Editor: Ascenion GmbH, Herzogstraße 64, 80803 Munich, Germany
Represented by: Dr Christian A. Stein (CEO)
Register Court: Amtsgericht München HRB 118236
VAT Identification Number: DE 812299325

Concept & text: KONOCOM
Layout: Design Direction
Photos: Ascenion, German Primate Center,
Helmholtz Zentrum München, Genomatix
Software, iThera Medical, Leibniz Institute
for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research