The busy and insightful AMR week in Basel
The AMR conference has established itself as the premier European conference on the topic of novel antimicrobials and diagnostics in the fight against AMR over the last few years. The addition of pre and post-conference events now makes it a whole week that brings together the AMR community for the exchange of ideas, networking, celebrate progress and prepare for the work that still needs to be done.
INCATE itself was launched during the virtual conference in August 2021 and we are glad to be a growing part of the conference and also the AMR community.
The week kicked off on early Monday, March 4th, with the INCATE Selection Committee selecting 4 new ventures for Stage I support (stay tuned for more details soon). This was also a chance to reflect on the last 2 and half years since launch. INCATE has now had contact with over 250 ventures, worked to have them deliver over 100 applications and selected over 30 that have received Stage I support. We have seen that €10k, advice and connection to a network can have a significant effect on a venture. There is indeed a lack of further funding opportunities for these ventures, and the “talent gap” is a reality. Creating a clear development plan with Go/No-Go decisions and a funding plan to get out there requires real experience and a network to help. Delivering on this will continue to be the focus of INCATE over the next years.
Tuesday was a big day: the first “INCATE Workshop” invaded the Innovation Office! The “Phages: what’s new and what’s next?” workshop was masterfully developed and delivered by INCATE’s own Mercedes Gonzalez Moreno, and gathered a fantastic lineup from R&D, Clinical, Manufacturing, IP, Regulatory and investors. The over 100 participants who showed up contributed to an excellent session, raising the need for further collaboration and with some ideas for how to get moving – read all about it here. We would like to call out to all members of the Phage community who want to move this forward, let’s work on this together! A big thank you to Cavenagh Health for their support in preparing the workshop. You can read the report co-authored with INCATE here.
This was only one of the three events that took place on Tuesday! INCATE partner NCCR-Antiresist hosted their annual networking event at the Biozentrum , where our colleague Silke Alt presented about INCATE in between some promising science that can contribute to translation, a great input from Michael Graz from the INCATE Stage I company Disperazol and also Kevin Otterson, from CARB-X who shared an overview of the AMR challenge we fare facing. You can read more about the NCCR Antiresist’s event here. Many guests then continued to the 2nd AMR Action Fund Apero. A great opportunity to connect and discuss the state of play and hopes for the Conference which hadn’t even started yet!
After the pre-conference BEAM Alliance AGM and an insightful workshop on Milestone-driven R&D – Opportunities and Challenges from Ken Bradley and Malcolm Page, the conference was officially open.
600+ participants joined over the two days, which emphasizes the growth when comparing with the 2022 conference. We believe that the story of the conference was, in fact, those 600 participants. Each of the sessions that took place during the event were informative and again well curated by the BEAM Alliance and the Bamconn team.
eventfotografen.com / bamconn GmbH
Along with the 600+ participants, we would consider that the other highlight of this year’s edition was the energy and connection happening throughout the conference hall. The 1:1 meeting tables were well visited, the booths were buzzing, not to mention the 60 posters. This shows that there is a vibrancy and connectedness in the AMR scene. The need for further push and pull support is clear and progressing innovation from ideas to successful companies will also require a network to support them. Nevertheless, conversations across the two days showed that this is coming together.
eventfotografen.com / bamconn GmbH
INCATE is not only an active participant but has also had the privilege to host the Start-up Pitching session, at the end of the first day of the conference. This year’s edition saw 11 finalists from 45 applications and the most even voting ever! There was a consistently high level of pitches and several ventures were close, and PURAY took home the €10k Euro prize voted on by the audience at the conference. Once again thanks to Vossius for their continued support not only with the prize but also during the Phage workshop.
Together with Axxam, INCATE supports the AMR Conference Poster Prize. With a record of over 90 abstract submissions for the available 60 poster slots, Leibniz HKI and BrigiD Biologics won the 3rd and 2nd prizes respectively, and Leoni Swart from University of Basel took home the 1st prize. Our gratitude extends to the judges for working through this, and also NCCR Antiresist and the Bamconn team for their pre-work.
It was great to see again the UKRI mission visiting over the whole week. They were the most resilient, also continuing their conversations and networking into the Friday.
At INCATE, we are convinced that with the right support This AMR week shows that there are many committed individuals and groups working on the problem. It was also a great chance to see how we can collectively as a community we can help to make the right support and advice available. We look forward to working across this network to help make that happen in the years ahead. And, of course, to seeing you all again next year in Basel. Shall we make it again the place to be?
