Towards strategic development of collaboration and verification at Karolinska Institutet - addition

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the VFT program is to commercially and technically verify and validate research based business concepts and to determine the most appropriate strategy for further commercialization. Furthermore, the projects are developed to be better prepared when they look for further funding, establish contact with collaborators / investors or launch the product or service on the market.

Expected results and effects

During 2017, KI Innovations has handled a total number of 52 projects within the VFT program. A summary of the last years show that the VFT program has created large values and had a significant importance to make sure that research results and knowledge can be translated into products and services of value for patients and society. Both the number of founded companies, the degree of project financing and the number of established companies have increased significantly which clearly indicates that the VFT-financed activities create value and make the projects more attractive.

Planned approach and implementation

The VFT process is well integrated into the operations at KI Innovations and we have processes and documents in place that secure well-founded decisions and appropriate follow-up of activities and projects. Business competence is tied to the projects at an early stage by experienced business coaches and continous collaboration with external experts. We aim to decrease the cost per project by performing the VFT-activities in sequence and to start with the activity that is considered most critical.