Virtual partnering event launched to accelerate partnerships in the life sciences industry to fight against COVID-19

Published on Apr 9, 2020
Virtual partnering event launched to accelerate partnerships in the life sciences industry to fight against COVID-19

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  • COVID-19 Virtual Partnering is a unique and free-to-attend virtual event taking place on 20 April – 06 May.
  • The initiative is backed by a consortium of biotech clusters and leading trade associations in the life sciences industry and represents a practical way to accelerate partnerships to develop and deliver solutions against COVID-19.
  • The event is open to all in the global life sciences industry to come together– the time is now to take partnering to the next level and help solve the COVID-19 crisis

09 April 2020Inova, Lyonbiopole and Evaluate have joined forces to launch a unique virtual partnering event, backed by a consortium of biotech clusters and trade associations in the life sciences industry, to be held across the globe from 20 April to 6 May 2020. This initiative is supported by EIT Health.
Today’s COVID-19 crisis requires a previously unimaginable acceleration of output from the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industry. It raises the question about the ability to find the right partner in developing diagnostics, drug treatments and, ultimately, a COVID-19 vaccine. Beyond R&D – COVID-19 also raises a series of questions about the ability to handle the massive scale-up needed to deliver urgent solutions to protect health workers in the front line of the epidemic and patients alike.
The way forward requires an enormous leadership and collaboration effort within the life sciences industry to leave no stone unturned.
#PartneringAgainstCOVID19 is enabling small and big players worldwide to meet and match their skills and efforts against COVID-19.
The event is being made possible by Inova, which is leveraging its biopharma industry expertise, its leading digital networking platform and years of experience in organizing partnering events. Lyonbiopole and Evaluate will also support the event, leveraging their global life sciences networks and expertise.
Participation is free and open to any organization that provides product, knowledge, or technologies that can help in the effort to develop and produce testing, treatment and vaccine solutions to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants will be able to pursue:

  • Potential R&D collaborations
  • Tools for research projects
  • Drug repurposing
  • Partners for clinical trials
  • Biological markers and diagnostic tests for clinical trials
  • Animal and in-silico models
  • New suppliers for supply chain reinforcement
  • Funding and licensing
  • Production capabilities and scale-up know-how
  • Early stage discovery collaboration
  • Adjuvants, carrier systems, and formulation technologies

“With today’s COVID-19 pandemic, and half of the globe staying at home, we need to take virtual partnering one step further and accessible to all. The team is proud to be part in this collective effort to continue to help biopharmaceutical companies accelerate their partnering efforts. Everyone's ultimate goal is to get solutions to patients”, says Gilles Toulemonde, CEO at Inova. “Partnering meetings usually take place face-to-face at large industry gatherings, but it’s now possible to #PartnerAtHome”.
“We’re delighted to be lead partner for this event”, adds Deborah Kobewka, CEO, Evaluate Ltd, a trusted provider of commercial information to the pharma industry for over 20 years. “Today’s COVID-19 public health crisis requires a previously unimaginable acceleration of output from the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industry. We are now seeing a major demand for global partnerships and this event will be a key solution to help bring together the industry to collaborate in new and innovative ways”.
We are very proud to be on board for the organization of this international partnering event against the current public health crisis”, says Florence Agostino-Etchetto, CEO of Lyonbiopole, a French Bio Cluster based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. “Our region is historically strongly involved in the research and the fight against infectious diseases and the current crisis we are experiencing worldwide needs a global response. Partnership will be the keystone to provide effective solutions.”
The event is endorsed by a growing number of leading trade associations including the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (EFPIA), EuropaBio, EUCOPE as well as national associations and coalitions.

Event at a glance

What is a virtual Partnering Event?

A partnering event usually aims to facilitate interactions between attendees at big conferences in convention centres. Instead, we’re providing a safe, structured and easy-to-use online space for those working on solutions for COVID-19.

  • Meeting requests: Partnering meetings are unique in that the interactions are not serendipitous. Participants search for and request meetings with potential partners in our directory. Once accepted, they schedule the meeting via our online networking platform. Access to the directory and meeting scheduling will start from 20 April.
  • Virtual meetings: Meetings take place from 4 May through 6 May using the online meeting system. Meetings only last 30 minutes. They are short but allow enough time for an introduction to the partner and their capabilities.
  • Follow-ups: Although the initial meeting is short, the relationship continues afterwards.

What is the timeline?

How does this work?

  • Each delegate enters a profile (organization, technology, product, expertise)
  • Searchable directory of profiles
  • Anyone can reach out to companies listed in the directory
  • Meetings can be requested, accepted or declined
  • Meetings are virtually organized and scheduled
  • Each delegate has a personalized agenda of meetings

Useful links:

Follow the discussions on social media using #PartneringAgainstCOVID19 and #PartnerAtHome
 
Media contacts:
Sabrina Buquoy, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer at Inova
sabrina.buquoy@inova.io
 
Note to the editors
About Lyonbiopole
As a French cluster based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Lyonbiopole is one of France’s major life sciences players. It aims at supporting ambitious projects and innovative companies in the healthcare & life sciences’ sector. It encourages innovators to develop new technologies, products and services toward a more personalized medicine and better treatments for patients.
The cluster’s strategic missions are focused around promoting the emergence of innovative R&D collaborative projects, supporting SME in areas such as strategy, partnerships and financing, fostering SME Internationalization as well as the cluster’s position at the European and International levels, and offering access to high-level facilities dedicated to life sciences companies.
Lyonbiopole currently has more than 240 members, including its 6 founders (Sanofi Pasteur, bioMérieux, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Becton Dickinson, CEA, Fondation Mérieux), 12 subsidiaries of major groups and ETI, 207 SMEs and 18 competence centers (CHU, Universities, Foundations, etc.). Lyonbiopole received the European cluster excellence “Gold Label” by ECEI for 2nd time in 2017. The cluster is part of different European initiatives such as bioXclusters, MAGIA, S3martMed and EIT Health.
For more information: https://lyonbiopole.com/en/
 
About Evaluate Ltd
Evaluate provides trusted commercial intelligence for the pharmaceutical industry and their advisors. Our Evaluate platform offers unique and dynamic insights into asset risk and value alongside a seamless, comprehensive view of the pharmaceutical portfolio landscape.
Evaluate Vantage – our award-winning, independent editorial team – provides thought-provoking news and insights into current and future industry developments.
Evaluate has been a partner to industry-leading organizations for over 20 years.
For more information on how we give our clients the time and understanding to drive better decisions, visit www.evaluate.com.
Follow us on Twitter: @EvaluatePharma, @Vantageanalysis
 
About Inova
Inova accelerates partnering for the future of medicine. Over 130 life science companies, including 50% of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies already use Inova’s cloud platform. They secure licensing and collaboration opportunities, accelerate deal making and successfully manage their alliances.
Inova also provides One-on-One Partnering, the market leading partnering & matchmaking platform that facilitates thousands of face-to-face meetings at dozens of biopharma conferences worldwide including the BIO International Convention and BIO Asia. For instance, in the weeks before the BIO International Convention, 4,000 biopharma companies connect online, list their technologies and capabilities, and request meetings with potential partners. By the time the Convention opens thousands of relevant meetings are scheduled – almost 50,000 at BIO Convention 2019 alone.
For more information visit: inova.io.
Follow us on Twitter @Inova_Software
 
About EIT Health
EIT Health is a network of best-in-class health innovators backed by the EU. We collaborate across borders to deliver new solutions that can enable European citizens to live longer, healthier lives. As Europeans tackle the challenge of increasing chronic diseases and multi- morbidity and seek to realise the opportunities that technology offers to move beyond conventional approaches to treatment, prevention and healthy lifestyles, we need thought leaders, innovators and efficient ways to bring innovative healthcare solutions to market. EIT Health addresses these needs. We connect all relevant healthcare players across European borders – making sure to include all sides of the “knowledge triangle”, so that innovation can happen at the intersection of research, education and business for the benefit of citizens.
For more information visit: www.eithealth.eu 

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