Start-up competition m4 Award announces winners
2.5 million euros for five research teams from Bavaria
The five winners of this year's m4 Award pre-founding competition have been announced. Each winning team will receive 500,000 euros for their project to solve urgent medical challenges. The award was announced by BioM together with the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy on October 24, 2023 at the Munich Residence.
The winning teams convinced the jury with their outstanding biomedical research projects and prevailed among 31 excellent applications from research institutions throughout Bavaria.
For example, TherVacB from Helmholtz Munich is developing a therapeutic vaccine against hepatitis B, an infectious disease that kills more than 800,000 people worldwide every year.
TUBiRA is also conducting research at Helmholtz Munich. The project influences certain immune cell signals in order to develop therapeutics against rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that has so far been difficult to treat.
BugSense from the Technical University of Munich has established a paper-based test with automatable image analysis for the rapid and reliable diagnosis of urinary tract infections. The test is designed to speed up treatment decisions and simplify patient logistics.
Researchers from the University of the Bundeswehr Munich have developed a high-resolution microscope that enables the detection of living cells such as particularly vital sperm. This allows in vitro fertilization to be optimized for success.
At Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, RevoBITs has constructed the first smart bio-printer to produce human tissue models. This could reduce animal testing in medical research and the pharmaceutical industry.
With prize money totalling 2.5 million euros, the competition supports the further development and validation of the respective project idea in preparation for a spin-off. In the process, the scientists not only receive financial support, but also active guidance from BioM and other partners as well as industry experts.
Prof. Ralf Huss, Managing Director of BioM, hosted the event and handed out the awards together with Dr. Sabine Jarothe, Director General at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. He was enthusiastic about the innovative projects of the winning teams: "With 15 spin-offs to date, the m4 Award is a real success story. This year's winning projects demonstrate once again the impressive potential of medical research here in Bavaria."
Dr. Petra Burgstaller, responsible at BioM for coordinating the m4 Award added: "We are very happy with the winning teams and will continue to support them with all our efforts on their way to becoming a successful biotech company."
The momentum that winning the m4 Award can have on a start-up's success was explained in an interview with Dr. Jonas Helma-Smets, CSO and co-founder of Tubulis: "Winning the m4 Award was a decisive milestone on our way to making Tubulis what it is today. This award, and the 500,000 euros in funding that came with it, has allowed us to move forward with our novel research approaches to treat cancer. Today, with a 60 million euros series B funding behind us, we are more motivated than ever and grateful for the support we have received on this exciting journey."
Bavaria's Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert on the competition: "The m4 Award is a distinction for outstanding academic research groups that have the courage to put scientific findings into practice. In this way, we create the necessary conditions for Bavaria to further establish itself as a leading biotechnology location in research, innovation and entrepreneurship."
At the award ceremony, Prof. Ralf Huss also introduced the new BioM incubator MAxL (Munich Accelerator Life Sciences & Medicine). MAxL offers selected start-up teams from the life sciences and healthtech sectors high-end infrastructure, a customized incubation and coaching program, and access to the extensive BioM network.
With the m4 Award, initiated in 2011 by BioM, the network organization of the biotechnology industry in Munich and Bavaria, the Free State of Bavaria promotes innovative products, technologies or services of young companies that decisively advance the further development of medicine of the future. The prize is awarded every two years, and 15 spin-offs have been realized since then.
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