Having recently been announced as a neurotechnology accelerator provider for Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator Programme, Pioneer Group is thrilled to have successfully launched our Biomedical Catalyst Neurotech Accelerator Programme at MediCity Nottingham last week, supporting innovative neurotech companies in accelerating their development from lab to market adoption.

We received over seventy first-rate applications for the programme. They were then carefully narrowed down to nine pioneering neurotech companies looking to test and develop their neurological health and care solutions.

About the Neurotech Accelerator Programme

Biomedical Catalyst is Innovate UK’s flagship grant funding mechanism. Its celebrated Accelerator Programme offers small to medium businesses and entrepreneurs the opportunity to benefit from tailored support and workshops to de-risk their technologies’ commercial and technical viability.

Throughout the eight-week programme, led by Pioneer Group’s Venture Development Associate, Nelli Morgulchik, participants will work one-on-one with a dedicated coach and attend weekly sessions to develop their idea into a minimum viable product with a clear route to market. Participants are also introduced to esteemed figures from the life sciences industry, who can provide sound advice and guidance on investment, market adoption and scale-up as part of Pioneer Group’s Expert Network.

Pioneer Group has supported hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped create more than 100 life sciences companies that have raised over £300 million in total investment, 35% of which have been founded by at least one female entrepreneur.

Indeed, two-thirds of the companies taking part in our current neurotech accelerator programme have female-led teams, something we are particularly proud of given the historical lack of female representation in the highest offices of the life sciences sector.

The programme is one of several accelerators delivered by Pioneer Group to ambitious life sciences companies at all stages of growth, using proven methods and tools to ensure lab innovations and research have the best chance of finding commercial success.

The Future is Neurotech

Being selected as a neurotech accelerator provider for Innovate UK represents our commitment to finding and funding tomorrow’s life sciences game changers, particularly sciences at the forefront of innovation and opportunity. Neurotechnology will undoubtedly be one of the sectors most ripe for innovation over the next decade.

Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi, PhD, Director of Venture Development at Pioneer Group, said: “Our partnership with Innovate UK illustrates Pioneer Group’s continued commitment to fostering commercial success in the life sciences innovation sector. We look forward to engaging with game-changing neurotech companies through the Accelerator Programme and helping them develop breakthrough solutions to unmet clinical challenges.”

Chris Sawyer, Innovate UK’s Innovation Lead, Digital Health, added: “We are delighted to be able to support the Biomedical Catalyst Neurotech Accelerator and are excited by the quality, diversity and transformational potential of the businesses entering this phase of the accelerator. I look forward to engaging with the businesses and witnessing their progress over the forthcoming months.”

A Pioneering Cohort

The selected neurotech cohort gathered for the first in-person session at Nottingham’s MediCity, which, alongside BioCity, is one of two Pioneer Group life sciences campuses in the city. The attendees offered insight into the value of the programme and how, through the 8-week course, barriers to commercialization could be navigated, bringing the goal of making a telling impact on patients’ lives a significant step closer:

Ravi Solanki, CEO of cfdx: “The neurotech accelerator will set the mark for translating our core scientific innovations toward real patient impact. The programme will encourage us to identify our product development roadmap and help us achieve our current milestones.”

Maria Cerezo Sanchez, CEO of Neurobite: – “Since we are early-stage researchers, we wanted to obtain expert help in bringing our neurotechnology innovation to the market through commercial support and access to grant funding, which we have been able to find in this accelerator program. In addition, seeing the percentage of female innovators that were helped has encouraged us to apply. We hope that at the end of the programme we will have fully established our start-up, with a very clear path showing how we will transition our research from our labs into the neurotech market.”

Jane Ollis, CEO of MindSpire: “MindSpire is an emerging leader in the rapidly growing field of bioelectronic medicine, using its highly innovative headphones to personalise and optimise stimulation of the vagus nerve to treat a range of chronic conditions, starting with tinnitus. The team applied to the accelerator to help them get market ready, get validation of their next prototype & in front of investors who want to be part of the journey. The accelerator team with the expertise, connections and experience are the rocket fuel the MindSpire team need to propel them to this next stage.”