BIOdyssey

Today, the Demo Day of our first cohort of BIOdyssey Germination Program participants took place!

A special jury of industry experts, inventors, investors, and academics from around the world provided feedback to our teams and offered support for the further development of their innovative business ideas in medical technology.

Alongside the our core team (Prof. Alon Wolf, Prof. Ezri Tarazi and Mr. George Haber), we were fortunate to be joined by Mr. Dean Kamen, inventor and founder of Segway and FIRST Robotics, Mr. Rick Passov, former VP and Treasurer at Pfizer and Healthcare Innovation investor, Ms. Sevda Memet from Stanford University and Healthcare Investment advisor at Lazard and Ms. Oana Geambasu from Harvard University.

Thank you to all our participants, and to our fantastic team of jurors, who have helped make this day a great success!

We would like to introduce to you the latest member in our network of mentors: Mrs. Livia Dumitrescu.

Livia is a New York Bar member who served as a Board member, member of the Nomination Committee and member of the Remuneration Committee for Victoriabank SA (Chisinau), as a Board member of Vantage Towers (a Vodafone company), as a Board member of two trade associations, Concordia and British Romanian Chambers of Commerce and as a Board member of Vodafone Foundation. In addition, during her professional life in Romania she was a member of the management boards of Vodafone, Renault Romania and Orange Romania Communications and has served as a Compliance & Corporate Affairs Director and Ombuds Director for OMV Petrom. Livia's international experience covers six and a half years in IFIs (EBRD, BSTDB and EIB) either as legal counsel or advisor and around 11 years in law firms in London and New York.

Livia holds a LL.M degree from Harvard Law School, a M.A. in European Cooperation and Integration from Hull University, a five-year law degree from the Law School at the University of Bucharest and she attended specialised programs at the Institute of Directors (London), Ashridge (Hult University), Columbia Law School (New York) and T.M.C. Asser Institute (The Hague). She holds professional qualifications in Governance, Risk and Compliance (International Compliance Association Fellow), fraud investigation (CFE) and is admitted (not active) to the Bucharest Bar. Livia has a strong interest in governance as a leading factor for business sustainability and in the role of technology in building new businesses which will support a humane future.

Livia has already started working with one of our teams, and we are very grateful for her personal involvement in the growth and success of our participants!

BIOdyssey is excited to announce naming Oana Geambasu, MPH, as its Ambassador in HealthTech to the Boston area of the United States.

At the suggestion of Mr. Mircea Geoana, NATO Deputy Secretary General, Biodyssey is expanding its network of expertise and outreach to Boston, MA, where the fastest-growing biotech market is located.

Oana completed her Master's Degree in public health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and her work at Harvard Chan resides at the intersection of innovation and technology in public health and social impact.

As our Ambassador, Oana will serve as strategic point of contact in growing the ecosystem of innovation in health and creating new alliances between BIOdyssey and the Boston Area healthcare ecosystem.

We welcome her to the team, and look forward to bring BIOdyssey closer to the other HealthTech innovation ecosystems around the world.

Frequently Asked Questions #2:

Q: If I already have a great idea for a business, does it make sense for me to join BIOdyssey?

A: It is great that you already have an idea! However, there is more to entrepreneurship than just having an idea: Participants in our programs will get the benefit of meeting other aspiring entrepreneurs from complementary disciplines, to form your team with. Participants will benefit from advice and guidance by our team, so that common pitfalls are avoided and an efficient timeline can be made. Teams will benefit from mentorship by individuals with relevant experience, who can advise them on any topic that might come up, and facilitate introductions to other relevant individuals in their personal network.

If you come to BIOdyssey with a validated idea, the process can certainly be sped up, but don't forget that this is just the beginning!

Frequently Asked Questions #1:

Q: Is BIOdyssey only for engineers and physicians?

A: To create a successful business from a new medical device (or any new innovative product), it is not sufficient to create a working prototype. The product needs to be financially viable (business studies), medically relevant (medicine), attractive enough to use for actual consumers (art, design), approved for use by the authorities (law), properly and safely constructed (engineering)...and so forth.

BIOdyssey enables you to tackle all of these obstacles, together!

Wherever you come from, you are invited to apply if you want to contribute to innovation in Health Technology in a complementary team of ambitious entrepreneurs!