image: Paulo Schor (FAPESP’s Research for Innovation adjunct panel coordinator), Marcos Tadeu dos Santos, Mario Adolfi, Luis Henrique Guilherme and Samarone Ruas
Credit: Elton Alisson/Agência FAPESP
In the last week of November, the agenda of four founding researchers of science and technology-based startups (deep techs) supported by FAPESP’s Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE) was reserved for visits to technological innovation hubs, accelerators, as well as potential partners and investors in the Spanish capital. They participated in a business mission during FAPESP Week Spain, which ended on November 28th at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).
“The participation of these four FAPESP-funded startups in the event is an opportunity to show that not only science but also innovation is very important. We’d like to discuss with the funding agencies here the possibility of increasing collaboration on this issue as well,” said Carlos Américo Pacheco, executive director of FAPESP’s Executive Board.
For the startup representatives, the business mission was an opportunity to expand their internationalization plans and enter new markets.
For example, the founder of Onkos Molecular Diagnostics, Marcos Tadeu dos Santos, used the trip to make contact with Spanish hospitals, clinics and laboratories interested in using a molecular test for the diagnosis and prognosis of thyroid tumors that is already marketed in more than 30 countries (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/44759).
Although the European Thyroid Association (ETA) advocates the use of molecular tests to conclude the diagnosis of indeterminate thyroid nodules, such as the one developed by Onkos, this solution is not yet available on the European continent. There is only one company, based in Germany, that has developed a technology also aimed at this purpose, but which, unlike the Brazilian healthtech, has not published validation studies of the method and the test requires a new biopsy in indeterminate cases – which the methodology developed by Onkos does not require, commented Santos.
“That’s why we’re here,” said the researcher. “We also took the opportunity to establish contact with research groups to validate our technology through local studies, because healthcare institutions want to make sure it works in the local population. That’s why we see validating our results in this population as a fundamental strategy for entering this market,” he said.
Electrical engineer Samarone Ruas, director of Techplus Automação, visited Spanish companies interested in partnering to commercialize an online monitoring system based on a combination of wireless sensors and artificial intelligence to continuously monitor machines and avoid unplanned downtime.
“I’ve made contact with two companies that want to form commercial partnerships and could provide some special types of sensors that could improve the solution we’ve developed,” said Ruas.
“My main objectives during this mission were to establish strategic partnerships with universities, local companies and research centers, as well as to gain a better understanding of the challenges and specifics of the European market.”
A favorable environment
On the other hand, Luis Henrique Guilherme, materials engineer and engineering manager of ACW, intends not only to establish partnerships but also to open a branch of the company in Spain to expand the marketing of the inspection device that increases the useful life of stainless steel surfaces used in industry, developed with the support of PIPE-FAPESP.
“Last year, we opened a branch of the company in Canada, where we started with research in cooperation with a group from McMaster University. We then established ourselves in the university’s innovation park as an international startup and then began to work on projects with pharmaceutical companies,” said Guilherme.
“We intend to replicate the same strategy here in Europe, and we’re considering Spain because there are many pharmaceutical and food and beverage companies in the country, and Madrid is a great environment for startups and technology companies.”
Mario Adolfi, CEO and co-founder of Kidopi, sees Spain as a potential market to expand the commercialization of the virtual assistant available on WhatsApp that provides information and guidance to patients after they leave the hospital, developed by his company, as it is the fourth largest economy in Europe and offers stability for strategic investments.
“The solution we developed with the support of PIPE-FAPESP is also ready to enter this market because it’s already multilingual, working in Spanish and English,” he said.
Spain is strongly committed to stimulating the creation of science and technology-based companies by supporting venture capital investment, said representatives of the country’s funding agencies at a panel discussion on research funding, innovation and university-enterprise collaboration.
“We have a venture capital program [called Innverte] that this year will provide more than US$1 billion to startups in Spain. And we’re working on different stages, from the beginning, followed by growth and reaching scale,” said José Moisés Martín Carretero, director general of the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) – a public company, linked to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities that aims to improve and raise the technological level of Spanish companies.
In March of this year, during the visit of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to Brazil, FAPESP and the institution signed a memorandum of understanding in which they committed to promote the development of research projects of common interest, within the framework of a bilateral technological cooperation program, called in principle the “FAPESP-CDTI Innovation Program” (read more at agencia.fapesp.br/51199).