Bioindustry Park Silvano Fumero S.p.A.

Sectors

• ICT and Industry
  • Electronics/Electro-Technology
  • Microelectronics
  • Measure, Control and Testing instruments
  • Software [Bioinformatics]
• Life Sciences und Materials
  • Biotechnology
  • Diagnostics
  • Biomedicine
  • Pharmaceutics
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Nanotechnology
  • Materials Science
• Agricultural/food
  • Food technologies [Functional foods]

Services

• Research and Development
  • Research and Development inside the park
  • Administration of external research projects
  • Technology transfer
  • Commercialization of technologies
• Human Resources
  • Organisation of conferences, courses and seminars
  • Staff training
  • Staff recruiting
  • Partnerships with universities and other research institutes
  • Management consultancy
• Business
  • Development of business contacts
  • Consultancy related to intellectual property
  • Access to venture capital
  • Venture capital available
  • Network formations
• Administrative services
  • Consultancy for dealing with public administration
  • Administrative services for located companies
  • Support of relations with the EU
  • Technical support in the selection of locations by companies and laboratory facilities
• Other services
  • Territorial marketing
  • Location marketing

Other services

Cultural services: cultural - Theater and musical event organisation

Data and Facts

Key data

• Founded in: 1998
• Seats: 1
• Companies: 37
• Research institutions: 5
• 5 associations and 1 foundation
• Staff: 550
• Area for research facilities: 16.000 m²
• Total area: 70.000 m²

Companies and institutions

• AAA
• Aethia
• Apavadis (www.apavadis.com)
• Biolab
• Bioman (www.bioman.it)
• Bionucleon (www.bionucleon.com)
• Biopaint (www.biopaint.it)
• Bracco Imaging
• Chemsafe
• Creabilis Therapeutics
• Dirivet (www.dirivet.it)
• E3C
• Ephoran (www.ephoran-mis.com)
• Eporgen Venture
• Fertirev
• Genovax (www.genovax.com)
• Medestea
• Natimab
• Notopharm (www.notopharm.com)
• Novedee
• Sitec Consulting
• Spider Biotech (www.spiderbiotech.com)
• Target Heart (www.thbiotec.com)
• Vanadis

Sponsors

Among the members are public organisations and private companies:

• FinPiemonte SpA
• Province of Turin
• Merck Serono - RBM
• Telecom Italia SpA
• Bioline Diagnostici Srl
• Confindustria Canavese
• Confindustria Piemonte
• Bracco Imaging
• Camera di Commercio di Torino

They are members not sponsors.

Objectives

• Foundation of new companies
• Intensification of relations between universities and companies
• Economic exploitation of the scientific results
• Attracting investors
• Build-up of new research activities
• Site promotion
• Technological consulting for companies and institutions
• Enhancement of the technology level of companies and institutions
• Creation of new jobs
• Enhancement of job quality

Network

• APSTI (Italian Association of the Science and Technology Parks)
• ASSOBIOTEC
• CEBR – Council of European Bio Regions

Location

Location and Environment

Infrastructure and links

Relevant infrastructure

MBC – Molecular Biotechnology Center Università di Torino,

LIMA- Integrated laboratory with progressive methods (in the park)
The LIMA laboratory of the bioindustry park is based on five technological, synergetic and supplementary platforms.
Molecular biology
Proteomics
Chemistry and structural Biology
Imaging
Bioinformatics

CEIP – Excellence Centre Preclinical Imaging

Technology transfer

Inclusion in EU project

• IRC: cooperation EEN Alps
• BIO-CT: the company and those responsible for the technology transfer offer the opportunity of getting rapidly and economically efficiently industrial Proof of Concept (I-PoC); thus the research results are economically correctly valorised (scientific Proof of Concept or S-PoC). The development of the initial phase (early stage) is seen worldwide as the weak point in the innovation chain.
• TRANSALPINE BIOCLUSTER: the aim of the project is the creation of a cluster network in the biotech and meditech spheres involving six European regions. Thereby companies should be facilitated in the Transalpine area to be responsive to the chance of increasing their innovative ability. The activity contains the formation of two thematic pilot networks (“Autonomy and Healthcare” and “New Diagnosis and Therapies“), which can be self-supporting in the long term.
• BIOCULTURE: By means of the project, the competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies in the Life Science segment should be strengthened in which resources of international corporate culture are produced, developed and made available.
• NETBIOCLUE: The project analysed the evolution of 14 European Biotech Clusters with the aim of determining the success factors and the best practices of recent years. In networking and the exchange, pilot projects and important proposals for the regional, national and European policy with regard to the development of branch-related clusters were drafted.
• PASSPORT: In the project, what was concentrated on was strengthening the competitiveness of the Life Science companies by means of a stronger participation in research programmes, above all in the VII. Framework Programme. In addition, incentives for networking between the companies and the promotion of cross-border corporate cooperation were set up.

Activities

• Tesina – Technology Scouting in Academia The aim of the project is to support the research with a system, which implements the newly developed ideas and results more simply into practice. These inventions, which were achieved as part of the experimental research into innovations, should be of great benefit to the regional companies in the future.
• iTech-Plat is an initiative of the Bioindustry Park, which is financed by the Piedmont Region. The aims are the valorisation of the scientific results from the Life Science sector applied to health. In this segment, it is extraordinarily important to identify both successful research areas and to provide resources and knowledge in order to pass on results obtained and patents to companies, which produce new pharmaceuticals and diagnoses for the final market. The well being of all is here the focus of attention. Involved in iTech-Plat are predominantly young researchers and small, innovative start up companies. With this project, a process has been set in motion, which, with the help of selection, development and valorisation (also at international level), initiated 15 research projects in various segments of molecular diagnostics via pharmacogenomics and bioinformatics through to nano-biotechnology. The projects have led to date to six patent applications.
• Discovery, a Canavese Park bioindustry project, supports Italian researchers with the foundation of a company on the basis of their research results in the Life Science Sector. To date have emerged more than 15 new companies with a total investment volume of over 7 Mio. Euros. Based on the following three factors, the Discovery model is one of the most significant of the park: 1) selection of projects with investment value, 2) support of the bioincubator by the public institution, the Piedmont Region and 3) –for Italy novel modalities – provision of capital by private, non-institutional investors, above all Eporgen Venture.

Contacts to german companies already exist:

• Technology foundation Innovationszentrum Berlin GmbH - BioTop (DE) – in cooperation with BIO-CT
• Helmholtz-Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health (DE) – in cooperation with ALPS BIO CLUSTER
• Alsace Biovalley (FR-DE-SW): in cooperation with ABC Europe
• Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Biotech. and Bioinformatics (DE) – in cooperation with ALPS BIO CLUSTER
• BioM – Biotech Cluster Development Gmbh – support of Polo innovazione
• Steinbeis Research Center (Rostock, DE): in cooperation with BioProtech
• Technologiepark Heidelberg GmbH – support of Polo Innovazione

Research and Development

Ovarian Cancer project

Description

“New potential targets for diagnosis and therapy of cisplatin resistant ovarian cancer.” Patent pending. Diagnosis
The usual treatment of ovarian cancer carcinoma is the cytoreductive surgery followed by the use of a first line chemotherapeutics agent (platinum + taxanes) and a second line agent (topotecan, ifosfamide). The problem is that 30% of patients are resistant to the first line agent and consequently this also decreases the efficacy of the second one. The goal of the invention is to prevent the use of platinum drugs in platinum-resistant patients by developing a resistance diagnostic kit.

Breast Cancer project

Description

“Use of ER-? derived peptides that restore sensibility to anti-estrogenic compounds in breast cancer cells.” Patent pending. Therapy: Estrogen receptors ER? is over-expressed in 70% of breast cancer cases. This over-expression causes tumorigenesis because of the excessive number of estrogen (E2) that binds to ER?
The usual treatment is the endocrine therapy that involves selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERM) such as tamoxifen which behaves as E2 antagonist in breast tissue. Unfortunately, the majority of initially responsive patients builds up resistance to anti-estrogens.
Resistance mechanisms to tamoxifen were investigated and the delocalization of an ER? co-repression complex seems to occur. This delocalization is due to its specific interaction with a protein that recognizes its nuclear export sequence (NES).

Aim

The aim of the invention was to restore the sensibility of breast cancer cells line to anti-estrogens by providing a mimic peptide able to block the interaction between the ER? co-repression complex and this specific protein.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis project

Description

“Biomarkers for diagnosis and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular ALS.” Patent Pending. Diagnosis
ALS is a rapidly progressive devastating disease for which the only therapy available is rizuole. The diagnosis is clinical and candidate disease biomarkers have not yet been found, whereas they are crucial for the early diagnosis and cure of this disease.

Aim

The aim of the project was to identify qualitative and quantitative modifications of plasma proteome in ALS-affected patients in comparison with inflamed and not-inflamed controls. They discovered 9 biomarkers, among them one where the expression level changes during the progression of the disease from the onset, enabling the inventors to follow the disease quantitatively.

Incubator and Incentives

Incubator

In our incubators is still space available.

Incentives

Regional incentives

• A) innovative platforms (POR FESR) regarding biotechnology and Life sciences
• B) bandi Converging Technologies (regional fonds + fonds CIPE) regarding innovation centers - POR FESR Asse 1 - center of biotechnology and biomedicine
• Provincia di Torino - “GIOVANI RICERCATORI IN IMPRESA” – Assistance for the SMEs in the Turin Province in the sectors biotechnology and biomedicine
• settlement agreement - Mis. INT2 Programma pluriennale d’intervento per le attivita’ produttive 2006/2008 (art. 6 l.r. 34/2004)

National incentives

• A) Law 34/04 – Asse 1 Misura Ri.3, MANUNET 2009
• B) Law 34/04 – Asse 1 Ri.1 – research projects- P.O.R. 2007 – 20013 – Asse 1 – Activity.1.3 "Innovation and SMEs“ MANUNET 2009 – Law 34/04 – Asse 1 Misura Ri.1 "Industrial Restarci Project and the Experimental Development of SMEs“
• C) Regional Law 56/86 – Innovation and Quality – favoured financing

European incentives

• FP7
• Interreg Alpine Space