Nordic Life Science 1
esides the above-mentioned projects, Jutta Heix i
nforms that she is involved in novel collaborations with the other health clusters in Norway, including the USA Next Initiative with Norway Health Tech Cluster, the Life Science Cluster and the Norwegian Smart Care Cluster. She has many balls to juggle, managing such a broad project portfolio, and she says that the challenge is to balance the needs of the various stakeholders and OCC members involved. “My facilitator role requires the integration of various perceptions, perspectives and interests, while at the same time the project lead work is goal oriented and aimed at delivering results together with different partners. Cluster work is “pushing and pulling”, which can at times be quite demanding. Then again, however, it is very rewarding to see initiatives and companies succeed,” she says. As a concrete example that illustrates how OCC helps companies grow, Jutta mentions OncoImmunity. The company was introduced to their first investors, Radforsk and the Norwegian Cancer Society, in 2015. Around the same time the founders, Richard Stratford (CEO) and Trevor Clancy (CSO) moved into the OCC Incubator, where the company was able to advance their technology and grow their team with an impressive pace, benefitting from being part of the incubator milieu and entering collaborations with partners onsite. After becoming a subsidiary of NEC the company remained in the incubator and operated under the name NEC OncoImmunity. The company’s first collaboration with MSD was facilitated by introductions to potential industry partners, and Jutta and her colleagues also provided advice and support during their successful EU SME Instrument Grant (phase I and II), describes Jutta. “OncoImmunity was one of the companies joining the Nordic I-O Mission to the US east coast in 2018, where they met several pharma companies and leading academic centers,” she says. “They were introduced to the Cambridge Innovation Center, which they continued to work with afterwards for advancing discussions with international partners.” Since their inception, the OncoImmunity team actively used opportunities for exposure via conference presentations and panels provided by the cluster. “NEC OncoImmunity recently acquired VAXIMM’s Neoantigen Vaccine Development Assets and expects to initiate the first clinical study delivering personalized neoantigens during 2022. Here the significant vaccine development expertise within the Norwegian ecosystem will be very valuable for having a head-start with this new endeavor,” says Jutta. Her best advice to an up-and-coming Norwegian or Nordic life science company looking to raise capital and grow is to think global from day one. Her advice is also to join incubators, accelerators and clusters offering hands-on support to address crucial aspects, such as IPR and the in-depth assessment of the competitive landscape and commercial potential, infrastructure and a network to tap into. “Also, approach national, Nordic and international industry experts, academic key opinion leaders, experienced biotech executives and investors early on. You will be surprised how many are open to discuss your technology and development plans and share valuable advice,” she says. To think globally has also been Jutta and OCC’s strategy to enhance the visibility of oncology innovations made in Norway. She and her colleagues started early on to expose and promote Norwegian oncology innovators at international partnering conferences. “We also initiated our own signature events, such as the International Cancer Cluster Showcase in