Photo: Harpreet Brrang / River Studio
Photo: Harpreet Brrang / River Studio
SPARK Norway pitches.
Photo: Harpreet Brrang / River Studio & Torunn Vistnes Espe
Photo: Harpreet Brrang / River Studio
In total 77 current projects and alumni from SPARK programmes across Europe were pitching their ideas to an audience consisting of investors, industry professionals and members of the SPARK Europe network.
– This is a unique event, and I’ve never heard about anything comparable in terms of number and quality of ideas in this space in such a compact format says Morten Egeberg, Director of SPARK Norway. The host and initiator for this event, SPARK The Midlands, did a fantastic job to pull this off, and the quality of all the startups and projects was amazing, he continues. To me this really demonstrates what we can achieve together on the European scene when all of our SPARK programmes unite forces. Moreover, the best thing is that this is just the beginning. We are planning to host these types of events regularly, one or two times per year on different locations in Europe and build this into a “can't miss” event for all key stakeholders on the life science scene in Europe and beyond.
Networking is essential for success
The venue was quite spectacular as the pithing took place in an old iMAX cinema (at some point the largest screen in Europe). In addition, the programme was designed to provide plenty of networking opportunities and a lot of new valuable connections were established. From SPARK Norway six teams participated. They all did a tremendous job, says Morten Egeberg. This is a fantastic arena for them to present and get feedback and maybe most importantly, build and expand their networks. To succeed in this area you have to build a high quality international network. All our SPARKees understand the importance of this and they all used the opportunity to do so.
An expanding SPARK Europe network
Since its origin from Stanford in 2006, the SPARK idea has expanded to more than 50 programmes across the globe. The Norwegian programme is administered by UiO:Life Science, University of Oslo. For several years, SPARK Norway has worked together with SPARK Finland and SPARK Denmark to build a strong SPARK Nordic network. With the recent additions of SPARK The Midlands and SPARK Western Switzerland we now have so many strong SPARK programmes in Europe that time has come to really accelerate the SPARK Europe network and build a unique life science powerhouse in Europe.