In this edition we have a focus on open innovation since this new paradigm in drug discovery is something which could have some impact on many of us, and we are very grateful to Martino Picardo of the Stevenage Biocatalyst Centre and to Geoff Lawton of INMedD for their pertinent and stimulating contributions below. Please note that any opinions expressed by individual contributors are their own personal viewpoints and do not reflect any position adopted by the UK QSAR & Chemoinformatics Society.
Introducing Discover Assist; an integral part of SBC Services
Martino Picardo, CEO, Stevenage BioCatalyst Centre
Since the opening of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC; www.stevenagecatalyst.com ) in February 2012 the number of big developmental initiatives for the growing biomedical campus has increased. The open innovation incubator, co-located on the GSK R&D site in Stevenage, held its inaugural open innovation event on November 15th 2012 The Open Innovation Summit hosted some 160 delegates across industry, academia and the investment community. Discover Assist played an important part in the success of the event. More recently a number of different types of start-ups have taken tenancy, including Aptiv Solutions, Magdi, Cambridge University and Labstract (others listed at http://www.stevenagecatalyst.com/about/our_tenants/ )
The SBC mantra is to foster collaboration (partly through open innovation), to add value to early stage “small molecule” and “biologicals” type development projects. We can assist with moving through the project from research to development to market stage This is achieved by providing access to key technical and commercial expertise at the right time and in a cost effective manner. One of the ways SBC can do this is through an advisory panel of experts, called Discover Assist. The group comprising Prof. Bill Dawson, Prof. Stan Roberts , Duncan Judd and Martino Picardo, are available to assist (on a first hour free basis) with projects at the interface between biology and chemistry. In addition projects requiring advice on funding as well as gaining access to key Pharma and Biotech expertise, are also on the horizon for Discover Assist services. Discover assist team members will be conducting road-shows in a (University) location near you and will look forward to meeting you there. For further details, please contact martino.picardo@stevenagecatalyst.com.