Paving the way to internationalisation

The decision to expand into international markets must be based on careful consideration. This includes issues about the long-term vision for building an international business, the unmet need of patients in the international market and available resources that can be devo-ted – considering the challenges and priorities in the home market. This requires profound experiences and know-how.

BiointeRNational, the new service unit of the BioRN Life Science Cluster Rhine-Neckar, supports SMEs and start-ups in risk assessment as well as market analysis and instructions to secure this project.

Identifying key objectives
Sciomics´ internal development pipeline for novel diagnostics in precision medicine is on track for growth. The Heidelberg based company's project on Perioperative Acute Kidney Disease (AKI) has been successfully validated and the next steps to develop a diagnostic device are being planned. To this end, an internationalisation strategy for tackling the US market is to be developed.

"To take advantage of global opportunities, companies first need to understand a number of complex country-level factors. This is why we have carried out expert interviews with key opinion leaders in the relevant market", says Arantxa Encinas-López, startup project manager at BioRN.

BiointeRNational takes over the project management and sets, in constant exchange with the project partners, the necessary course to achieve the relevant results. "It was initially important for me to get a better feeling for the complex diagnostics market in the US and to understand how reimbursement via the health care system works there. BioRN put us in touch with the right partners and paved access to key contacts in the target market", says Christoph Schröder, CEO of Sciomics.

Based on the results of the expert interviews together with secondary research, a go-to market strategy has been developed – further steps to tackle the market are already initiated.

Soft-landing Strategies
In addition to the door-opening function into foreign markets, BiointeRNational also supports European SMEs and start-ups on the development of a soft-landing strategy within Germany. This
includes the identification of key opinion leaders and distributors, introduction and support throughout the collaboration, market introduction with tailor-made workshops about the German healthcare system, reimbursement pathways and regulatory, and marketing support.

Find the perfect match
PROGEN, well-established and experienced provider of an exclusive portfolio of AAV antibodies and analytical tools based in Heidelberg, was recently introduced to a Spanish start-up with an innovative and very interesting technology. The introduction by BiointeRNational formed the perfect
basis for the establishment of a possible long-term supply relationship.
"BiointeRNational facilitates the flow of information about companies you would normally not necessarily hear about, e.g. due to a different research area they are focused on. Keeping track of innovations, especially when these take place in different focus areas, can sometimes be tedious and BiointeRNational makes it very easy to find the right match and establish a relationship with foreign
companies," says Katja Betts, CEO at PROGEN.   

Further information:  
https://www.biorn.org/biointernational/

This article was originally published in European Biotechnology Magazine Autumn Edition 2023.