At CeMM internationally recognized cutting-edge research is conducted in the field of molecular medicine. CeMM integrates basic research and clinical expertise to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to improve medical care for patients. In order to make the knowledge gained applicable and to develop effective solutions for society, researchers at CeMM are actively supported and accompanied in the development of patenting strategies, in dealing with intellectual property and in technology transfer activities. “Science is our passion and profession, while the improvement of medicine is our mission. The exploitation of research results is an important step to ensure that the findings from academic research also reach patients in the form of diagnostics and therapy,” says CeMM Scientific Director Giulio Superti-Furga. With currently 6 spin-off companies, 26 patent families, 4 trademarks and various licensing and know-how agreements with the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, CeMM is among the Austrian leaders in terms of innovation. This is also confirmed by the recent Innovation Award 2021/2022, which CeMM has received for the second consecutive time.
Closing gaps: From research to product
Anita Ender, Administrative Director at CeMM, adds: “The basis of our successful innovation strategy is to intensively promote free science and cooperation and to identify and train exceptional talents. CeMM is committed to research excellence and seeks to explore the causes of disease. We are very pleased to receive the ÖGVS Innovation Award again, which confirms the innovation power of our institute.” At CeMM, scientists from 49 nations work not only in the field of chemistry, but also across the spectrum of biomedical research and clinical practice: from diagnosis to treatment. To fulfill its mission of translational research, CeMM proactively identifies and protects intellectual property. This ensures that potential partners, mostly pharmaceutical or biotech companies, have an incentive to bridge the gap from discovery to product and further develop scientific findings for medical professionals and patients. Generated returns are reinvested in new research projects. The success of technology transfer at CeMM – either through licensing or company start-ups – can be seen in the products and services which have been brought forth since its foundation and in the new companies and jobs created, which strengthen Vienna as a business and science hub.
One particular research-to-practice success story, for example, is the discovery of a carcinogenic gene mutation of the protein calreticulin. It began as the result of a doctoral thesis and academic publication at CeMM and has led, with the help of a licensing partnership, to a diagnostic kit for myeloproliferative cancers that is already being used in clinical practice. Prudence Donovan, IP and Technology Transfer Manager at CeMM: “For the comprehensive clinical insight to make innovations maximally usable and useful, we are also working closely with the Medical University of Vienna and are, for example, currently seeking partners for a new breakthrough diagnostic medical imaging technology and a novel therapeutic for hyperlipidemia. At CeMM, we are also actively seeking pharmaceutical companies interested in increasing the efficiency of their drug screens using our novel high-throughput sequencing technology.”
About the Austria’s Best Innovation Award
For the second time, the Austrian Society for Consumer Studies, together with the business magazine “trend”, has awarded the most innovative companies and research institutions in Austria. And for the second time, CeMM has won in the category of Inorganic Chemistry. For the Innovation Awards, a cross-segment analysis is carried out based on the 24 main classes of the Corporate Patent Classification (CPC) system to determine which companies based in Austria applied for how many patents and were successfully granted these patents in the previous year. In addition to an evaluation by class, an evaluation at the federal province level was carried out for the first time this year. The data collection was not limited to the Austrian Patent Office alone but included all patent offices worldwide. In addition to the number of patents, the citation frequency was taken into account and cumulated in a score value. qualitaetstest.at/awards/innovations-award-2021-22/
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For further information and licensing inquiries please contact: Prudence Donovan, IP & Technology Transfer Manager, ip(at)cemm.at.