“Biotech is one of the sectors where Italy can still effectively play a decisive role and contribute to the development and positive growth of our economy,” but technology transfer is crucial to move from mere “individual excellences to ecosystems.” These are the words of Claudia Pingue, head of the Technology Transfer Fund at CDP Venture Capital SGR – National Innovation Fund, during the event “International Cooperation on Emerging Biotechnologies and Life Sciences” held recently in Rome.
CDP Venture Capital: 3 actions to support biotech startups
CDP Venture Capital, established three years ago with the goal of expanding the ecosystem of Italian startups to contribute to the creation of the future companies, “currently considers the Life Sciences sector, particularly the Biotech, to be one of the strategic sectors for its investment activities. We have at least three actions in the field working on this sector:
Firstly, direct investments, meaning we intervene directly in the most promising startups generated by the Italian landscape in the sector. Today, CDP Venture Capital has a portfolio of over 250 startups, of which more than 40 specialize in the Biotech life sciences sector, and these startups are at different stages of development.”
“Second action: we also have an investment line that we call ‘fund of funds,’ where we provide capital to third-party venture capital managers and ask these managers to invest selectively in Italian startups. In this case, too, CDP Venture Capital has allocated capital to over 30 venture capital funds, more than 20% of which specialize in the Life Sciences sector. These funds are all operational in the market today.”
“Third action, and we believe it is the most important and decisive for this sector, is the technology transfer line. We launched the first national technology transfer hub specialized in Biotech Pharma called Extend. We launched it as CDP Venture Capital with top-level industrial and financial partners, and its goal is to transform research into a company. It is one of the most important lines because we need to avoid creating only individual excellences but move towards ecosystems.”