Zcube, Zambon Research Venture, has launched the fourth edition of Open Accelerator, the international acceleration programme dedicated to startups in the Life Sciences, which seeks to identify and accelerate the best solutions that will shape the future of health. The 2020 Call, focused on digital solutions, is running until the 20th of July. Candidates can apply on the website www.openaccelerator.it
Open Accelerator is looking for innovative, high-tech projects and startups leveraging digital technologies to improve patients’ lives. The best proposals will take part in the acceleration program with the possibility of receiving a seed investment of up to € 100,000 per project.
The 2020 Call for Solutions is preferably targeted at the therapeutic areas of the Central Nervous System and Respiratory, with a particular focus on the 4 technological macro areas: Digital Prevention, Monitoring and Therapeutics; Digital Diagnostics; Virtual Health; Clinical Trials Digitalization.
This year, in an attempt to transform the COVID-19 emergency into a growth opportunity for the healthcare system, ZCube is also presenting the Special Challenge concerning new ways of interaction among healthcare professionals, Industry and the community.
“Open Accelerator is continuing with conviction into its fourth edition, reaffirming its commitment to supporting young startups, helping to transform promising projects into concrete solutions for patients” – comments Elena Zambon, President of Zambon Spa and creator of the accelerator programme – “Digital solutions have never been such a vital support for patients and caregivers as they have at this time. We have direct experience of this through ParkinsonCare, our telenursing service with a human touch. That is why we have decided to dedicate the 2020 Call to digital initiatives. We are convinced that they will be increasingly important in tackling the challenges that lie ahead in terms of health and the system’s sustainability. This programme is yet another way in which we are pursuing with conviction our commitment to improving patients’ lives, integrating cure and care with a multidisciplinary approach”.
After the closure of the Call, on the 20th of July, the Open Accelerator team in collaboration with a panel of experts will select the startups which between October and November will participate in the intensive 4-week acceleration programme, consisting of tailored online and onsite sessions held in the OpenZone scientific campus just outside Milan.
By taking part in the Open Accelerator programme, the startups will have access to a vast international network of entrepreneurs, scientists, investors, Venture capitalists and Life Sciences professionals. At the end of the programme the most promising projects will be awarded a seed investment of up to € 100,000. Finally, any possible synergies with the companies of the Zambon Group will be assessed.
“Open Accelerator 2020 Call is one of a kind both- for its focus on digital health technologies and for its pragmatic approach, strongly focused on identifying concrete proposals for delivering solutions to healthcare needs” – says Fabrizio Conicella, General Manager and Board Member of OpenZone and Zcube – “It is only through the active engagement of existing and prospective partnerships that we will be able to maximize the potential of the proposals we receive and select with a clear objective: to offer to the market innovative solutions that currently don’t exist”.
The initiative also leverages the support of several partners, including Deloitte, Unicredit Start Lab, Premio Marzotto, IQVIA Biotech, Italian Angels for Biotech, Portolano & Cavallo, Bird&Bird, Innogest, Evoleen, HUMA, NINA Capital, and Lifeseeder. Discussions are currently underway with other potential Italian and international partners.
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