Entrepreneurship
Immunotherapy is widely considered today as the most promising approach in cancer treatment, with proven curative potential. However, one of its major flaws is the inability to selectively target only malignant cells and prevent off-tumor toxicity. Our vision was to address this challenge by developing a unique genetic device which will guarantee precision of treatment and hence, maximal safety. In the past twelve months we have been working to bring this idea into practice.
Fig. 1 The conference "NORTECH" for entrepreneurship and technological employment in Hula Valley.
In addition to excessive lab hours, we have also devoted considerable time to exploring the commercial prospect of our product and to learn about entrepreneurship. For this reason, in January 2019 we participated in a large entrepreneurship conference, which took place in the upper Galilee (Galil Elyon in Hebrew). At this conference there were many prosperous individuals prepared to develop and invest in new enterprises in the far north of Israel. We arranged a stand where our project was presented and information regarding the scientific aspects of the project was provided.
Fig. 2 The conference "GALIL INnovation"- Entrepreneurial competition at Tel-Hai academic college.
Our main goal was to identify and get to know interested investors who wish to support this scientific idea for potential future commercial use. In addition, we also took part in the Tel-Hai Entrepreneurship Conference. Tel-Hai is a college located in the north of Israel that serves as a social and economic growth engine for the Upper Galilee, creating new opportunities for the local community. At the conference we presented our project to both faculty and regional industry leaders, and received their feedback.
Fig. 3 The conference "GALIL INnovation"- Entrepreneurial competition at Tel-Hai academic college.
Participation in both conferences has significantly improved our presentation competencies and skills and has helped us engage more partners from academia and industry and expand our network. We gained valuable experience in how to present our project, which aspects of the project to emphasize when presenting it to business people and gained further insight regarding the market's interests.
Fig. 4 The confirmation of the provisional patent.
Since our project entails innovative scientific information we have learnt that it is necessity to protect it, in order to ensure our invention will not become public information. In June 2019 we have filed a provisional patent application in the U.S.A. Dr. Mikael Schwarz, our patent attorney at the Ben-Ami & Associates firm in Rehovot, Israel, is qualified in different fields in biology and an expert in the field of diagnostics. He was kind enough to provide us with detailed explanation on intellectual property (IP) in general and on provisional and PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patent applications.
Upon receiving the confirmation of filing in the U.S.A. (right), we were able to approach potential investors for a more detailed presentation of the product. We were helped by Mrs. Hanna Pri-Zan, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Tel-Hai College and a senior director at Bank Hapoalim. Hana gave us many tools for fundraising that brought two large companies to join the project.
Fig. 5 Liad, Lee, Ofir and Ophira with Hanna Pri-zan -Chair of the Board of Trustees of Tel-Hai.
The first company, to join the project was "Ituran". Ituran is an Israeli manufacturer of automobile devices specializing in detection and vehicle shield protection. The second company, "Tagra", was interested in the scientific and commercial prospect of our development. "Tagra" specializes in biotechnology and produces micro-capsulation for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
The two companies have the vision to promote and develop the upper Galilee region by supporting groundbreaking research and entrepreneurship.
Fig. 6 “ISRAEL DONATES’’: Israeli crowd-funding platform.
The high expenses related to participation in the iGEM competition provided a challenge. We created an internet platform for raising money through the ‘ISRAEL DONATES’ initiative, which was distributed across social nets and, especially, the Biotech community.
All funds raised were for scientific research and required community events. This process taught us to work as a group and provided us with both the knowledge and experience of fundraising.
To summarize, working on the project has taught us how to come up with a new good idea for a solution to an urgent medical problem and acquire knowledge that is mandatory for providing this solution. On our side were our genuine belief in the idea and our ability to convince others who may not yet grasp and envision the solution. Through this experience we have realized the perseverance required, regardless of the challenges on the way. Furthermore, our work empowered our presentation skills, taught us how to formulate our innovation and present it in the most attractive way and how to approach potential investors. Overall, we have improved our capabilities in the related fields of entrepreneurship, marketing and fundraising.