“AseBio Investor Day 2022 showcased a bubbling biotech sector”

A large space featuring the big players in biotechnology from over 12 countries, meeting and discussing the most disruptive ideas of the year in one of the most innovative industries around: biotechnology. This was the panorama at AseBio Investor Day 2022, held last week in Madrid, with conferences, meetings and company pitches. For Rosa Planelles, head of R&D Projects at Kaudal, our platinum sponsor, it was a pleasure to get to see both new and familiar faces in person. “It was a general feeling and we saw how the biotechnology sector is bubbling. I’ve seen lots of positivity, people are excited and, above all, there’s been progress,” she says.

For an organisation like Kaudal, which had over 100 projects in its pipeline in 2021 and 34% of them were in biotech with a joint total of more than €35 million invested, this event is an opportunity to meet with loads of companies, multiply the already promising figures and boost visibility. “Many people don’t yet know how technological patronage can help drive biotech companies, and this is the perfect opportunity to explain it and have an impact,” she adds.

Planelles defines the company as a dynamising agent: they look for R&D-intensive companies and the biotechnology sector has everything they need.  “We attract new private investment to the sector,” she notes. Kaudal gets involved in projects, not companies like venture capital funds. Plus, for those funds, the expert explains, it’s also interesting to work with a company that has a project co-funded through technological patronage because it means the company they invest in can reach its goals faster, promoting the project more quickly and without dilution. “At Kaudal, we listen to companies and guide them through the whole the process,” she explains. In short, they want to be close to the companies and AseBio Investor Day 2022 gave them a great opportunity to do just that.

In asking about the biggest challenge they’ve overcome, the head of R&D projects highlighted getting started: “It was a challenge for us, technological patronage is now a familiar private investment option recognised by many R&D-intensive companies, investors and other stakeholders in the knowledge-transfer ecosystem. The growth in number of projects funded shows it. But that wasn’t the case four years ago. Demand in this market is growing.” However, if we look at it through a wider lens, the challenge continues. We still have to learn to communicate the R&D that is in the DNA of the 3,500 Spanish companies working in the biotechnology sector. “If you can’t explain what your project does and the impact it has on society, you don’t have anything,” Planelles warns. “We have to keep working to be a community,” she adds.

Kaudal headed up a panel at AseBio Investor Day 2022 called: “Boosting tech transfer in Biotechnology – turning ideas into technological solutions for society”. 

                        — What message would you like to share with readers about this panel discussion?

                        — Well, I think there are loads of opportunities and lots of eyes on the bio sector. People say Spain has to believe in itself to be able to express this and get others tobelieve in us. But I think that’s changing, and we’ve seen examples of it today. We have to go after things smartly, surround ourselves with good travel companions and be alert to all the opportunities available in the academic, business and investment arenas. 

When the conversation was drawing to a close, the expert from Kaudal wanted to highlight that Spain has loads of science and one of the things that impressed her most at the event was the six-minute pitches from roughly 20 companies. “I realised even more than ever that there is so much quality science here in Spain and we have to keep supporting that science and drive its transfer to society more than ever. This is what we do at Kaudal; it’s our goal as a company,” she concluded.