The vocation of the « Eclosion Prize »
« Preach by the example », that is the vocation of the « Eclosion Prize », by bringing recognition, visibility and accompaniment to the award-winner.

With the strength coming from the success of the first edition of the « Eclosion Prize », during the bio-innovation day 2006, the will to contribute to the effort of innovation and regional development is even stronger. Indeed, the vocation of this prize is to offer to the project which will be kept as the best one, the environment and means which are necessary for his development.

So, the Eclosion Prize isn’t only an award. It implies an accompaniment and a support for one year on the hard road to creating a company and allows you to access to the larges professional resources of Eclosion, the Geneva-based incubator of the life sciences. Moreover, this prize enables you to profit from the advice of the Jury.

This unique opportunity to initiate the realization of innovative projects allows, in 2006, the doctor Paolo BOTTI to have the resources of Eclosion and to found his company: Arisgen.

 Invitation to applications
The contest is officially opened and every project bringers who wish to submit their ideas to the jury of the Eclosion Prize are asked to apply before the May 15, 2009 by clicking here. You will have to give a brief presentation of your project which will have to fit in a maximum of two A4 pages.

 Course of the prize
The « Eclosion Prize » takes place like this:
After a selection of the most promising projects which have been filed on our web site, the selected candidates are invited to present in detail their project. These ones will be the subject of a deep evaluation as for their viability and their economic interest in terms of creation of value and jobs.
Finally, it’s during the Bio-Innovation Day that the winner will be designated by a specialized jury.

 Jury
The jury of the «Eclosion Prize» also acts as durable support in order to guide and advise your project development. Through Eclosion's support, you will be able to leverage its competence in the scientific, technological, regulatory and financial fields.
The jury is composed of six members:

• Prof. Robert Gurny, Professor, Department of pharmaceutical technologies and biopharmaceutics, University of Geneva.;
• Prof. Michel Glauser, President, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lausanne.;
• Prof. Ann Kato, Department of fundamental Neurosciences, University of Geneva.;
• Dr. Kamel Besseghir, CEO, Debiopharm SA.
• Dr. Jean-Yves LeCotonnec, CEO, Triskel Integrated Services
• Dr. Daniel Littman, Analyst, Eclosion SA.

 Conditions for participants
To take part in the contest, candidates will have to have innovative projects in the life sciences, in particular in the biotech, medtech and pharmaceutical areas.

This contest is addressed in particular to young researchers and entrepreneurs, coming from universities, research institutions, specialized high schools and companies, eager to launch their start-up or spin-off.

Candidates will also have to show a commitment to establish the start-up company in the Lake Geneva region.

 Criteria for success
Projects will be evaluated, among others, in accordance with criterions next:

• The originality, the quality of the project and his innovative nature,
• The market potential,
• The advantages for the customers or users
• The state of progress and development of the project and/or the product
• The added value that Eclosion can bring in the start-up process.
  

 The situation of the past prize winner: Dr. Paolo BOTTI

The Doctor Paolo BOTTI is a Bio-Organic Chemist and possesses a strong academic and industrial background in USA and Europe. He has proven strength in technology innovation with 14 patents filed.
He was the principal scientist at Gryphon Therapeutics (USA), Director of the (R&D) Protein Synthesis at Geneprot (Switzerland) and has published a lot of articles in some famous publications.

After the Eclosion Prize 2006 award, the doctor Paolo BOTTI integrated the biotech incubator Eclosion so as to benefit from an adequate structure for the development of his company Arisgen: laboratories and an effective managerial team. During meetings with a lot of experts, he has benefited from a deep evaluation of the technologies he had developed as well as suggestions about the most pertinent applications. So, the support of Eclosion has allowed him to realize his entrepreneurial view.

Thus, the doctor BOTTI has created the company Arisgen in October 2006, a start-up of five persons, whose activity addresses unresolved problems in the pharmaceutical use of peptides and proteins. Arisgen is focused on enhanced protein therapeutics and the non-invasive delivery of peptides and proteins.

Arisgen possesses proprietary technologies to improve peptide and protein biopharmaceutical properties via reversible esterification as well as a novel and innovative formulation platform technology. These techniques permit:

• the enhancement of peptide and protein biopharmaceutical properties,
• the control of drug delivery into the organism,
• the use of non-invasive delivery routes for administration.

The company Arisgen has already signed contracts with the companies Roche, Italfarmaco (Italia) and Merck Serono, which indicate an excellent future.

The Eclosion Prize: a real springboard to the development of a start-up and so a real opportunity for the projects bringers.

> Download the logo Eclosion Prize 2009

  Information and application:
  > Contact Eclosion

  > www.bioinnovation.ch

  > Jury Members
  > Conditions for participants


  Past Prize Winners:
  Eclosion Prize 2006