Could you briefly introduce yourself and role you have in the organisation?
My name is Václav Ranc and I work as a senior researcher at the Czech Advanced Technology Research Institute as well as Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine at Palacký University in Olomouc. My scientific role is a development of nanomaterials applicable in theranostic applications relate to cancer, in particular development of active drug delivery systems and plasmonic nanomaterials for the analysis of cancer biomarkers. The developed drug delivery nanoplatforms are based on graphene oxide 2D structures functionalized using biocompatible polymeric layers and plasmonic nanostructures.
Before joining widerAdvance Facility, what were your main challenges regarding the valorisation of your Key Exploitable Results?
The main challenges were to define a valorisation space, define early adopters and how to target them, define users of the technology and decide in which markets we can operate with our developer nanomaterials.
Why did you decide to join the widerAdvance Facility?
I joined the widerAdvance Facility with the aim to better understand our situation regarding the valorisation of our technologies (ideas) related to drug delivery nanomaterials-based platforms. We had some initial data related to the market, because of the finalized H2020 project.
However, we wanted to deeper understand the market and define risks (and their scale) of already present concurrent technologies and patents.
Importantly, we were also interested in opinions and possible roads how we can move forward with the exploitation strategy of our KER.
You participated in the IP services provided by one of the widerAdvance Facility partner – UNICO. Could you share with us your insights and opinion about the service?
The collaboration was professional. The initial meeting helped us to better understand what our needs are and what Unico can offer.We shared basic parameters of the project, scientific publications and project results related to the development of drug delivery systems based on graphene oxide.
Colleagues from Unico consequently prepared a draft of the FTO analysis performed based on the provided materials. The quality of the first draft was already very helpful for our needs.
We realized that there is a space for a commercialization of the idea. Next, draft was finalized after a set of short online meetings, where we answered additional questions regarding the risks raised by some of the identified concurrent patented technologies.The final document will serve as an initial point for a commercialization/ valorisation of the drug delivery systems.
Was the service helpful for the valorisation process of your Key Exploitable Results (KER)?
We defined one KER: method for a preparation of biocompatible multi-drug delivery nanomaterials-based platforms for a theranostic application related to cancer.
Yes, the provided service was helpful for several reasons:
- The meetings (initial and all follow ups) were professionally handled and helped us to clarify our standing point related to the market scape for drug delivery systems for a treatment and diagnosis of cancer and eventually other diseases.
- The obtained FTO analysis is a solid starting point for a consecutive step performed by out TTO office.
- The collaboration was professional, the communication flow was without obstacles, and all steps and documents were obtained in a timely manner.
Why would you recommend widerAdvance Facility to other organisations?
