HealthDay.si Conference 2021: Biotech Meets Digital

November 18, 2021 - Online

Biotechnology and digital are getting closer. Due to the high development of both segments, Slovenia has a great global opportunity in this convergent field of medicine. Can good experiences from the digital healthcare ecosystem be linked to biotechnologies? Can we create something in this space that could be globally relevant? Can a new "digital Krka" or a new "digital Lek" be created in this area?

In this year’s HealthDay.si conference we will focus on the digitization of biotechnological solutions related to medicine and health, with emphasis on diagnostics, advanced cell and gene therapies.

Selected speakers, including international experts and CEOs of established companies, will share their expertise and touch upon additional topics starting with financing growth by a seed round, PPPs in health/research and ranging to secondary use of health data, prevention, value-based health system, ATMP therapies, digitalization of genomic data and artificial intelligence.

EVENT AGENDA

The conference is moderated by mag. Mojca Cvirn, SRC Infonet and HealthDay.si Think Tank member.

9:00 - 9:20: Welcome

  • Prof. dr. Gregor Majdič, Rector of University of Ljubljana

  • Maja Tomanič Vidovič, CEO of Slovene Enterprise Fund

  • Dr. Tomaž Kostanjevec, CEO of SPIRIT Slovenia

  • Dr. Jernej Pintar, CEO of Technology Park Ljubljana

9:20 - 10:30: Plenary Sessions - Biotech Across the Globe

  • Prof. dr. Roman Jerala, National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia: Synthetic biology for biomedicine

  • Katherine Littler, World Health Organisation: Ethics of genetic treatments of patients

  • Dr. Thanh G.N. Ton, Genentech: How patients benefit from real-world data

  • Dr. Ana Catarina Gomes, CBR Genomics: DNA is Healthcare

10:30 - 10:45: Special guest - Google For Startups

  • Magdalena Przelaskowska: How Google helps accelerate startups in healthcare and wellbeing, with a guest appearance of MESI Medical (co-founder of HealthDay.si), a participant in the 2021 generation

10:45 - 11:10: Short break

11:10 - 12:30: Regional & Global Champions in Biotech and Digital

  • Dr. Aleš Štrancar, BIA Separations - Sartorius: Per Aspera Ad Astra – In 4 years from bankruptcy to take over for 360m€

  • Borut Čeh, Labena: A family affair – how a small company became a serious global player

  • Dr. David Dobnik, NIBA Labs: Spin-out from the National Institute of Biology – Our role in the story of gene therapy for SMA

  • Dr. Gregor Serša, Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, SmartGene.si – The first gene therapy clinical trial in Slovenia

  • Dr. Klemen Zupančič, SciNote: Making an impact in the US from Slovenia

  • Dr. Tine Porenta, Lek Sandoz: Advanced data analytics in the development of new drugs

12:30 - 13:15: Panel Discussion - Innovative Financing And Tax Environment

Biotechnology financing requires financing rounds in tens of millions €, yet digitally-enabled biotech can work with less, a few million. Can the Slovenian ecosystem provide this?

  • Dr. Jernej Godec, Atlas Venture, Cambridge, MA, ZDA

  • Dr. Zoran Stamatovski, SPIRIT Slovenia

  • Dr. Enej Kuščer, AciesBio

  • Blaž Kos, Slovene Enterprise Fund, advisor

  • Matej Zalar, SID Bank

Moderated by Nina Dremelj, Alita Capital

13:15 - 14:00: Lunch break

14:00 - 14:40: Back to Our Number #1 – Patients

  • Kristina Modic: CAR-T in Slovenia, patient-driven initiative

  • Špela Miroševič, CTNNB1 Foundation: A mother spearheading the development of gene therapy for her own child

  • Petra Simpson Grom, Koronarni klub Ljubljana: Patients Rehab Requires Interdisciplinary Approach

  • Gözde Susuzlu, European Patient Forum: Personalisation of healthcare requires multistakeholder cooperation

14:40 - 15:40: Grand Round Table – Biotech Meets Digital

How can new biotech harness digital to enable personalized medicine at scale, sustainably, and safely?

  • Mateja Urlep, CEO Niba Labs and chair of Think Tank HealthDay.si

  • Nicole Arming, CEO Roche Slovenia

  • Klod Kolaro, General Manager of Endava Slovenia

  • Dr. Lenart Girandon, CEO-elect of Educell

Moderated by: Petra Juvančič, CEO of Managers’ Association of Slovenia

ACCOMPANYING PROGRAMME: Show of Innovation & B2B meetings

Show of Innovation, the pre-conference 2-day international B2B networking programme will take place on the 16th and 17th November, on the Confiva platform. Opening event with a virtual tour of all showrooms by Jernej Pintar, CEO of Technology Park Ljubljana, will take place on Tuesday, November 16 at 2 PM (CET).

Registered visitors will have the option to meet in the networking area on both days between 12:00 and 15:00. More information will be provided upon registration to the conference. Send meeting requests to your selected participants and build new business connections!

 

SPEAKERS - Biotech Across the Globe

How patients benefit from real-world data

Dr. Thanh G.N. Ton from Genentech will highlight a few examples of how can patients benefit from real-world data. According to FDA, real-world data are data relating to patient health status and/or the delivery of health care routinely collected from a variety of sources.

Thanh received her Bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology at UC Berkeley, an MPH in Global Health at Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Washington. She currently serves as a real-world data scientist at Genentech (Roche).

Synthetic biology for biomedicine

Prof. dr. Roman Jerala is Head of the Laboratory for Biotechnology at the National Institute of Chemistry and one of the most penetrating Slovenian researchers in his fields.

Advanced therapies are potential game-changers in modern medical care. Learn how prof. Jerala and his group are designing and overcoming some of the challenges of existing CAR-T and gene therapies with synthetic biology.

DNA is Healthcare

Dr. Ana Catarina Gomes is a Portuguese biochemist and a manager with over 15 years of experience. She started her career in the fields of molecular biology where she was attaining her PhD in. She was the first CEO of the R&D department of the CNC institute and as of today, she is the CEO of CBR Genomics, a startup that is providing genomics medicine for everyone.

She aims to bring genomic analysis to families, by delivering a whole new concept of genetic screening for newborns, thus advancing individualized medicine.

SPEAKERS - Regional & Global Champions in Biotech and Digital

Per Aspera Ad Astra – In 4 years from bankruptcy to take over for 360m €

Dr. Aleš Štrancar is executive managing director of BIA Separations - Sartorius since funded in 1998. He is one of the main inventors of the CIM Convective Interaction Media® monolithic columns technology and co-inventor of many analytical methods and purification processes including pDNA, mRNA, AAV, Adeno, and other viruses.

Aleš is the author or co-author of more than 90 scientific papers dealing with separation and purification technologies.

Making an impact in the United States from Slovenia

CEO of SciNote dr. Klemen Zupančič will join us to present how they started making an impact and the story behind the top-rated electronic lab notebook platform for laboratories on their way to digital transformation.

Klemen Zupancic, Ph.D. Biomedicine, is the CEO of SciNote and a co-founder of BioSistemika, a life-science software development company. Alongside his business career, he has been focused on developing methods for diagnosing and treating cancer.

Spin-out from the National Institute of Biology – our role in the story of gene therapy for SMA

Dr. David Dobnik is the CSO and co-founder of the spin-out from the National Institute of Biology - NIBA Labs, which is developing analytical methods for cell and gene therapies.

David will present NIBA Labs’ cooperation with the development company for congenital spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy, known in Slovenia after the high-profile case of Kris Zudich in 2019.

SPEAKERS – Back to Our Number #1 – Patients

CAR-T in Slovenia, patient-driven initiative

Kristina Modic is the Head of the Slovenian Lymphoma and Leukaemia Patient Association and has received the prestigious European Citizen's Prize 2021 together with prof. dr. Samo Zver for their pan-European impact on the progress of cancer patients and their contribution to the modern care of hematology patients.

Tune in and learn how they brought together professionals, patients, scientists and raised awareness of the importance of timely access to treatment for all with modern CAR-T technology.

Personalisation of healthcare requires multistakeholder cooperation

Gözde Susuzlu works as a project coordinator for the #datasaveslives initiative and digital health and health data related European projects at European Patients' Forum.

Prior to the European Patients’ Forum Gözde Susuzlu worked as a web and online service manager at an international organisation in Brussels, Belgium.

CONFERENCE OPENING REMARKS

CONFERENCE MODERATOR - Mojca Cvirn, SRC Infonet & HealthDay.si

Mag. Mojca Cvirn is the Head of Marketing and Training at the leading provider of solutions for healthcare digitalization in Slovenia, SRC Infonet.

After co-leading HealthDay.si for the last 5 years, she remains actively connected with the community as an active member of Think Tank HealthDay.si, which encourages the local healthcare community to accept changes and accelerate the implementation of innovations into the health system through a constructive dialogue between stakeholders.