The Microbials Accelerator, delivered by LYVA Labs and BioNow, with partners Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON), University of Liverpool (UoL), CPI (Centre for Process Innovation), and Health Innovation Northwest Coast was for SMEs developing microbiomes, biofilms, and phage technologies. It gave ten organisations the skills and expertise to prepare them to scale their businesses, find and secure funding. They had access to a unique package of free business support and clinical/ technical advice. The companies were then supported to apply for up to £100k of Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst feasibility funding. Nine companies secured £1 million between them to advance R&D activities and enable commercialisation.
The Biomedical Catalyst is Innovate UK’s flagship grant funding mechanism, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to test and develop innovative health and care solutions across life sciences, including therapeutics, medical devices, and digital health. By awarding grants to UK-based businesses of varying stages of development enabling them to develop innovative healthcare solutions, secure investment, and speed up bringing new products to market.
As well as funding, Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst brings together an ecosystem so projects are supported with access to partners on their innovation journey.
iiCON provided support to the companies during the accelerator programme, helping to define the grant projects and will continue to provide technical input and commercial support throughout the project awards.
One example of ongoing collaboration is Oxford Sim Cells. OSC will work with Dr Shaun Pennington within iiCON’s organoid platform to develop their preclinical vaccine candidates – building on a previously funded Innovate UK collaboration. Dr Pennington and his team will develop vaccine candidates using a novel method of creating genome free bacteria which retain surface proteins. This means they provoke an immune response without being able to replicate.
Janet Hemingway, Founding Director of the Infection Innovation Consortium (iiCON), an LSTM-based collaboration that works with industry to bring new infectious disease technologies to market, said:
“Exploring new technologies and creative collaborations that will deliver next-generation treatments is at the heart of iiCON’s mission. We’re therefore delighted to be collaborating with LYVA Labs on this targeted support programme, which will give SMEs and those with new ideas access to a variety of really impactful benefits, such as the ability to upscale and overcome product development obstacles.”
Dr Samana Brannigan, Head of Health Technologies at Innovate UK, said:
“This funding through our flagship programme will allow these early-stage SME’s to develop commercially viable offerings and build significant momentum in the microbial technologies space. From lung infections and infant gut microbiomes, to wound care and mosquito repellents, these projects and technologies could offer solutions for global health challenges and have huge impact on the health outcomes of millions of people worldwide.”
Boon Lim, PhD, CTO – Simcell said:
“It has been an enriching journey of discovery, collaboration, and accelerated growth, guided by the expertise of professionals in the field.”