Latest news with #EuropeanInnovationCouncil
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bio-Inspired Sparxell Ready to Glitter Bomb the Market
If all that glitters cannot be gold, must it be plastic? Sparxell thinks not. Now, a grant from the European Commission will help the bio-inspired startup find out. The Cambridge spin-out secured roughly a $2.15 million grant (1.9 million euros) from the European Innovation Council (EIC) as the sustainable colorant technologist works to overcome the 'critical technical barriers' with scaling production. More from Sourcing Journal Material World: Celebrate Biological Diversity Day With Carp Couture Chemical Textile Recycler Eeden Closes $20M Funding Round Material World: Still Burning Bras? You Can Bury Balena's The funding—awarded to 'disruptive innovations addressing global challenges,' per Horizon Europe—adds to Sparxell's previous investments and will help secure the startup's foothold in the $48 billion global colorant market. According to Precedence Research, the whitespace in the market sits around a 'healthy compound annual growth rate of up to 12.22 percent. The timing's right, too, as Sparxell reported 'This European Innovation Council funding is transformative for Sparxell, allowing us to accelerate our manufacturing scale-up and overcome key technical challenges much earlier in our development pathway,' Benjamin Droguet, founder and CEO of Sparxell, said. 'With our plant-based technology, we're offering industries a fundamentally different approach to color that works with nature rather than against it while meeting the highest performance standards.' Sparxell was founded in 2022 after scientists discovered a way to replicate vibrant hues found in nature using plant-based cellulose—a renewable, biodegradable resource extracted from waste streams. Sparxell's pigments use the same material that plants and animals use, the company said, to produce its fade-resistant colorants. Thus, its products are toxin-free pigments that allegedly last longer than the incumbent options on the market. Since 'spinning out' in 2023, Sparxell said it has commercially validated 25 fully-funded pilot projects. Since joining LVMH's La Maison des Startups accelerator program last September, Sparxell said it's befriended the luxury market, connecting with a handful of the house's heritage brands, like Loewe and Givenchy. Previously, the color platform technology company was acknowledged by the Biomimicry Institute's Ray of Hope Prize back in November 2023 (with $100,000) before taking home the $250,000 Sustainable Collaborative Prize from Morgan Stanley that December. Last month, Sparxell was named 'Best Sustainability Venture' by the Falling Walls Foundation. Last week in Paris, the eco tech developer took home two more awards from the ChangeNow Summit (including the Coups de Cœur jury-decreed honor) at its annual ESG showcase. This year's summit had 15 major partners (like Kering and Moët Hennessy) and 12 ecosystem partners (like B Lab and Clean Tech Open). In addition to LVMH's La Maison des Startups, Sparxell is also part of the Respond Accelerator by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, the automotive group's independent corporate foundation that was named for the Nazi-affiliated industrialist for reportedly rescuing the car czar from bankruptcy (and/or Daimler-Benz) back in 1959. Sparxell joined the six-month program's fifth cohort, last April. In operation with the European startup hub UnternehmerTUM, the program has, since launching in 2020, supported over 50 startups solving for net-zero. Currently, Sparxell said, the team is focused on fundraising to accelerate market adoption across various industrial verticals. Sign in to access your portfolio
Cambrian News
07-05-2025
- Business
- Cambrian News
Welsh business developing potentially revolutionary way of managing diabetes
'The Horizon funding scheme has been instrumental in accelerating the development of our groundbreaking technology. We were thrilled to receive €2.4 million from the European Innovation Council, allowing us to drive our innovation toward commercialisation and, ultimately, improve the lives of those living with diabetes.'
Fashion Network
28-04-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Colourant specialist Sparxell gets key fashion innovation recognition
LVMH-backed eco tech developer start-up Sparxell has received two prestige international sustainability awards. The UK company has been named among the prestigious 'ChangeNow Change 100' winners for 2025, joining 'a definitive list of the top sustainability start-ups to watch this year'. And during the recent ChangeNow summit in Paris, the company was additionally awarded the jury's 'Coups de Cœur' recognition in the fashion category, highlighting its game-changing potential to transform the fashion industry'. Sparxell, a University of Cambridge spin-out and 'developer of the world's first high-performance, plant-based colourant technology', joins an elite group 'demonstrating exceptional impact potential, scalability, and business viability while creatively rethinking industry standards'. It said this latest achievement reinforces its 'growing momentum as it transforms the $48 billion global colourants market with its revolutionary 100% plant-based, high-performance biodegradable colour platform'. Dr Benjamin Droguet, founder and CEO of Sparxell said the two recognitions 'validate our mission to revolutionise how industries approach colour. 'This comes at a pivotal moment as we scale our technology to transform how the entire fashion industry approaches colour. Through this innovation, we're not just creating sustainable products - we're helping shape a world where beautiful, high-performance materials work in harmony with nature rather than against it.' This recognition comes as Sparxell recently secured a €1.9 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC), adding to investments from the L'Oréal-backed Circular Innovation Fund and support from Innovate UK. It has also established partnerships with luxury brands under LVMH's La Maison des Startups.
Euronews
06-03-2025
- Science
- Euronews
Gender index reveals ‘unbalanced representation' in the entire EU tech ecosystem
Women are underrepresented in the entire EU tech ecosystem from the classroom to the C-suite, a new gender and diversity index found. ADVERTISEMENT A new gender and diversity index has found 'unbalanced gender representation' across the European tech ecosystem, from talent to academia and C-suite executives. The GENDEX index, funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC), evaluates how women have been represented in schools and various levels of tech companies over the last decade. It surveyed 150 deep tech company founders across European Union member states in 2024 and followed up with 20 in-depth interviews with startups. They also compiled data from Pitchbook, Dealroom, and Eurostat to get their numbers. 'This data proves we need structural change,' Tanya Suarez, Gendex's chair, said in a press release ahead of International Women's Day. 'Not only is it needed to fairly represent women, but evidence shows a gender-balanced ecosystem delivers the best results'. Inequalities start in the classroom Throughout the EU, women represented only 42 per cent of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) graduates in 2022. There are also fewer women in STEM research and roles than men, at 44 per cent and 41 per cent respectively. Some fields have more women in them than others, like biology, where women represented 62 per cent of all graduates in 2022 compared to information and communication technology (ICT) fields, where they were only 24 per cent of graduates. Fewer women going into STEM fields means 'fewer women founders of deep tech startups,' the report found, with one in five European tech companies run by women over the last ten years. Women are also underrepresented in academia, making up only 31 per cent of researchers and scientists in deep tech. Even fewer, 24 per cent, of all patent applications are made by women. The GENDEX research shows there is a 'narrowing funnel, where women's talent is lost along the way, to the detriment of the tech industry as a whole'. Women 'consistently underrepresented' in male-dominated companies Stéphane Ouaki, head of the department for the European Innovation Council, wrote in a brochure that women occupy roughly 30 per cent of all the leadership positions in European companies. The most pronounced gender gap at the board of directors level, the report continued. This was especially true in companies founded by men, where women are 'consistently underrepresented in all categories of employees'. Of female founders, one in three say their teams are made up of equal men and women in technical positions, compared to 1 per cent of companies led by men, the report says. Ouaki wrote in the brochure that only 1 per cent of venture capital (VC) funding is awarded to 'exclusively female teams'. ADVERTISEMENT When female-led teams are successful at getting investments, it takes them six months longer on average than male-dominated teams to sign their first deal, Ouaki continued. The terms for these deals are often less favourable than male-only teams, who received 1.8 times more funding than women-led teams over the last decade, the report continued. Require gender diversity reports before funding, report says The index recommends that investors and government 'require gender diversity reporting' before deciding to fund a company and allocate their funds to more women-led teams. The index will also be used by investors to 'self-assess their own portfolios for diversity,' according to a statement. ADVERTISEMENT The index comes as large US-based tech companies like Meta, Amazon, and Google are ditching diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies at the urging of the Trump administration. Expertspreviously told Euronews Next that it's hard to know whether tech companies will keep DEI policies in place, especially since smaller countries use Big Tech's involvement as justification for startups to take them on.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
AlzeCure Receives EU Grant for Phase 2 Clinical Trial of NeuroRestore ACD856 for Alzheimer's Disease
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN / / February 17, 2025 / AlzeCure Pharma (STO:ALZCUR)(FRA:AC6) AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO:ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops candidate drugs for diseases affecting the nervous system, focusing on Alzheimer's disease and pain, today announced that its project NeuroRestore ACD856 has received €2.5m from the EU's European Innovation Council. This funding will support AlzeCure's planned Phase IIa study of NeuroRestore ACD856 in Alzheimer's patients. In addition, higher doses of ACD856 will be evaluated in humans, as the good safety profile allows for further dosing. ACD856 has the potential to be the first drug in a new category of Alzheimer's drugs - positive allosteric modulators of Trk receptors (Trk-PAMs), which increase BDNF and NGF signaling. "We are delighted to have been awarded a €2.5m grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) for our innovative Alzheimer's treatment. The support from the EIC Accelerator program is a recognition of the project and will be crucial in advancing our clinical trials and bringing this much-needed Alzheimer's treatment to patients," said Johan Sandin, Chief Scientific Officer at AlzeCure Pharma ACD856 is a first-in-class drug candidate for Alzheimer's disease with possible positive effects on both memory function and the course of the disease. Phase I clinical studies have shown good safety and tolerability with the substance and that it enters the brain to a high extent and activates regions of the brain with relevance for both cognition and depression. Previous preclinical studies have also shown that AlzeCure's drug candidate ACD856 in the NeuroRestore platform strengthens communication between nerve cells and improves cognitive ability, including learning and memory functions. Furthermore, preclinical results also show neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory and disease-modifying effects in various models with these so-called Trk-PAM substances, which increase BDNF and NGF signaling in the brain. "The grant we received from the European Innovation Council is a strong validation of NeuroRestore ACD856, which has a unique pharmacological mechanism that enables multiple indications, both neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but also, for example, depression," said Martin Jönsson, CEO of AlzeCure Pharma. "That ACD856 has the potential to both improve learning and memory capacity, as well as being disease-modifying and improving brain health is unique and significant". Link to the EIC Accelerator announcement: For more information, please contact Martin Jönsson, CEOTel: +46 707 86 94 About AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) AlzeCure® is a Swedish pharmaceutical company that develops new innovative drug therapies for the treatment of severe diseases and conditions that affect the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease and pain - indications for which currently available treatment is very limited. The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market and is developing several parallel drug candidates based on three research platforms: NeuroRestore®, Alzstatin® and Painless. NeuroRestore consists of two symptomatic drug candidates where the unique mechanism of action allows for multiple indications, including Alzheimer's disease, as well as cognitive disorders associated with traumatic brain injury, sleep apnea and Parkinson's disease and is being prepared for phase 2. The Alzstatin platform focuses on developing disease-modifying and preventive drug candidates for early treatment of Alzheimer's disease and comprises two drug candidates. Painless is the company's research platform in the field of pain and contains two projects: ACD440, which is a drug candidate in the clinical development phase for the treatment of neuropathic pain with positive phase 2 results, and TrkA-NAM, which targets severe pain in conditions such as osteoarthritis. AlzeCure aims to pursue its own projects through preclinical research and development through an early clinical phase, and is continually working on business development to find suitable outlicensing solutions with other pharmaceutical companies. FNCA Sweden AB is the company's Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit About NeuroRestoreNeuroRestore is a platform of symptom-relieving drug candidates for disease states in which cognitive ability is impaired, e.g. Alzheimer's Disease, sleep apnea, traumatic brain injury and Parkinson's disease. NeuroRestore stimulates several important signaling pathways in the brain, which among other things leads to improved cognition. Preclinical studies with NeuroRestore have shown that AlzeCure's drug candidates enhance communication between the nerve cells and improve cognitive ability. The NeuroRestore substances are so called Trk-PAMs which stimulate specific signaling pathways in the central nervous system known as neurotrophins, the most well-known being NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) and BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor). The levels of NGF and BDNF are disturbed in several disease states and the signaling is reduced. The impaired function impairs communication between the synapses, i.e. the contact surfaces of the nerve endings, as well as reducing the possibility of survival for the nerve cells, which gives rise to the cognitive impairments. Neurotrophins play a crucial role for the function of nerve cells, and a disturbed function of BDNF has a strong genetic link to impaired cognitive ability in several different diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury and sleep disorders. There is also a link between BDNF signaling and depression, something that has been further strengthened in recent years. This results in a number of indication possibilities for NeuroRestore, both in neurodegenerative diseases as well as depression. In addition to cognitive-enhancing effects, new preclinical data also show that NeuroRestore substances have a positive effect on mitochondrial function and display neuroprotective as well as anti-inflammatory effects, which could indicate potential disease-modifying effects. The leading drug candidate in the platform, ACD856, has recently completed clinical phase I studies and demonstrated positive effects there that support continued development of the program and are being prepared for phase 2. Read more at: About Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting approximately 55 million people worldwide, and the number is estimated to triple in the next 30 years if nothing is done. Alzheimer's disease is a lethal disorder that also has a large impact on both relatives and the society. Today, preventive and disease modifying treatments are missing. The main risk factors to develop Alzheimer's are age and genetic causes. Even though the disease can start as early as between 40 and 65 years of age, it is most common after 65 years. Significant investments in Alzheimer research are being made because of the significant unmet medical need and the large cost of this disease for healthcare and society. The total global costs for dementia related diseases are estimated to about 1,300 billion USD globally in 2019. Given the lack of both effective symptomatic treatments and disease modifying treatments, including preventive treatments, the need for new effective therapies is acute. The few approved drugs on the European market today have only a limited symptomatic effect and can produce dose limiting side effects. A disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer's disease is estimated to reach more than $15 billion in annual sales. In Sweden, approximately 100,000 people suffer from Alzheimer's disease with a healthcare cost of about SEK 63 billion yearly, which is more than for cancer and cardiovascular diseases combined. Image Attachments Martin Jönsson CEO And Johan Sandin CSO AlzeCure Pharma Attachments AlzeCure receives EU grant for Phase 2 clinical trial of NeuroRestore ACD856 for Alzheimer's disease SOURCE: AlzeCure Pharma View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire Sign in to access your portfolio
