MiWendo Solutions, Kamleon and Corify Care share their experiences at the annual workshop of the interuniversity PhD Program in Bioinformatics

CREB UPC participated in the digital Workshop of the Interuniversity PhD Program in Bioinformatics, a session where the students defended their thesis in three minutes, but also had an opportunity to learn from other voices in the industry. Open by Toni Manzano from Aizon, the conference included the roundtable “Entrepreneurship in the Healthtech Industry”, where different start-ups’ promoters shared their experience.

Marta Guardiola, Co-Founder and CTO of MiWendo Solutions, Jordi Ferré, Co-Founder and CEO of Kamleon and Andreu Climent, Associate Founder and CEO of Corify Care talked from their experience and gave some unique tips to the futureentrepreneurs in the healthtech ecosystem.

“I would recommend current generations to identify and talk to the companies that are trying to innovate in their field. It would be stimulating to learn from these possible partners, as well as paying attention to the Key Opinion Leaders in the Science area”, explained Andreu Climent from Corify Care, start-up company, which is going to introduce a novel medical device to non-invasively map cardiac arrhythmias in real time.

The speakers also discussed the challenges faced during the incubation process and the time needed to transform an idea into a product. “In our case, it took us around four to five years to bring our technology to the market, but it depends on every project and product”, commented Jordi Ferré, from Kamleon, science-based early-stage company developing user-centered technologies to empower healthier lives by democratizing the monitoring of wellbeing. 

Thinking outside the lab and bringing technology to the market sometimes seems to be the hardest part, nevertherless it is not the only key to success. “A well-balanced team, with all the expertise needed to develop the project, is essential”, pointed out Marta Guardiola, who co-founded MiWEndo Solutions, start-up company that created a medical device, which integrates microwave technology with colonoscopy in order to improve prevention, diagnosis and knowledge of colorectal cancer.

CREB UPC also introduced Xartec Salut to the dozens of students taking part in the workshop. Made up of 47 research groups from Catalonia that belong to 17 different institutions, Xartec Salut aims to be an ecosystem to catalyse tech transfer in the healthtech industry. “One of our main goals is to foster the exchange of knowledge and technology transfer between the different agents, in order to have a greater economic and social impact”, claimed Sergio San Agustín, innovation promoter at Xartec Salut.

About the PhD programme in Bioinformatics

The PhD programme in Bioinformatics aims to train researchers to the level of excellence and makes them capable of bringing new methods, knowledge and tools for computational analysis or the development of models in life sciences. Bioinformatics is a cross-disciplinary field that is experiencing a major expansion, with a very strong base in Catalonia. As a highly interdisciplinary strategic area with significant transnational potential, the programme includes top experts from six Catalan universities in the different areas, which makes up Bioinformatics.  The programme also embraces the Barcelona Bioinformatics Association (BIB), which brings together universities, research centres and companies with the aim of positioning Barcelona and Catalonia among the world’s leaders in bioinformatics.

For more information, visit https://doctorat.upc.edu/en/programmes/bioinformatics/