Intervju: Giovanni Loser iz Biovalley investments

Spoštovani g. Loser, kaj počnete?

 Biovalley Investments je podjetje, ki investira tako v raziskave kot obetavna tehnološka inovativna podjetja v biotehnologijah, medicinskih tehnologijah in zdravstveno informacijskih tehnologijah. Poleg dobrih izkušenj s pridobivanjem evropskih sredstev nudimo tudi svoj kapital; sem direktor podjetja BioValley Investments Partner S.r.l. 

 Kaj je tisto, kar vas zanima kot investitorja?

 V svoje poslanstvo smo zapisali, da bomo podpirali podjetja v regiji Alpe Adria. V tem oziru nas vsekakor zanimajo tudi investicije v Sloveniji. Z nekaj podjetji že sodelujemo in vidimo, da je tudi v Sloveniji velik potencial.

 Kot investitorji želimo podpreti tista podjetja, ki s svojimi rešitvami in ekipo lahko osvojijo globalne trge. Pri tem imamo že nekaj izkušenj, zlasti bi izpostavil področju bioloških primerljivih zdravil, ter interoperabilnosti na področju medicinskega slikanja. Velik potencial zaznavamo tudi v analitiki podatkov, posebej pri umetni inteligenci, s katero se v Trstu ukvarja veliko zanimivih ljudi, tudi zato, ker je Trst močan na področju matematike in fizike. Značilnost naše regije je, da število raziskovalcev na 1000 prebivalcev za več 5x presega povprečje Evropske unije. Trst, ter tudi regiji Benečija in Furlanija-Julijska krajina so zibelka številnih izjemnih tehnologij, tudi domače raziskovalno okolje nekaj Nobelovih nagrajencev.

S kom s mednarodnem okolju sodelujete?

 Imamo stike tako z vodilnimi strokovnjaki v Evropi, npr. v Evropski komisiji, kot čez lužo v ZDA. V Združenih državah sem se izobraževal na vrhunskih univerzah Harvard in Stanford, kar je bila tudi odlična priložnost za sklepanje novih stikov in partnerstev. Prepričani smo, da je za uspeh na današnjem trgu pomembno hitro sestavljanje kompetenc. To pomeni, da kot investitorji ne zasledujemo zgolj ideje, da bi posameznemu podjetju omogočili, da se razvije od semena do velike korporacije, ampak iščemo načine, kako ustvariti pravo kombinacijo.

Kaj pri tem sporočate slovenskim podjetjem?

Slovenska podjetja imajo kakovostno izobrazbo in usposobljen kader. Kar opažamo je, ne le v Sloveniji, ampak tudi širše, da podjetja poskušajo replicirati to, kar so nekje že odlično rešili. V takem primeru je dobro, da imajo podjetja vpogled v to, kje in kakšne so vodilne rešitve, ter da ne iščejo zgolj načinov kopiranja, ampak se ukvarjajo s tem, kako nekaj, kar že obstaja, lahko nadgradijo.

Vemo tudi, da pravega investitorskega kapitala v Sloveniji ni, oziroma je na voljo v zelo omejenih oblikah, najpogosteje čez mejo. Mi smo vaši najbližji sosedi in investiranje v Slovenijo je del naše dolgoročne vizije. Menim, da pri tem ne bo umikanja, to je naše kulturno in interesno področje in želimo si tvorno sodelovati, pa tudi to ne zgolj enosmernim delovanjem. Slovenskim podjetjem želimo omogočiti vstop na naš trg, v naš zdravstveni sistem. Pri tem pa poudarjam, da je izrazito pomembno zavedanje, da je svet globalen, ter da šteje sposobnost vstopanja na najzahtevnejše svetovne trge.

V Sloveniji sem zdaj praktično vsak mesec. Mislim, da lahko tudi v sodelovanju s Tehnološkim parkom Ljubljana in s skupnostjo HealthDay.si naredimo veliko.

Kje vas bodo slovenski inovatorji lahko spoznali?

 Teh priložnosti je vedno več. Že lani je na konferenci HealthDay.si sodeloval moj kolega iz podjetja VivaBioCell Antonio Sfiligoj, ki je predstavil projekt ARTE (Interreg SI-AT). TPLJ in HealthDay.si julija na obisk v Trst na delavnico TRAIN pripeljala skupino 15 predstavnikov podjetij in organizacij, ki so se predstavila podobni skupini naših podjetij. Med 16. in 18. oktobrom bo v Trstu potekala velika konference Meet in Italy for Life Sciences. Kot vem, se je boste udeležili tudi predstavniki TPLJ in HealthDay.si, vaša podjetja so prav tako dobrodošla. Upam, da se bomo uspeli udeležiti tudi konference HealthDay.si 10. oktobra 2019. Če bo vse po sreči, pa pridemo 12. decembra predavat tudi na delavnico o financiranju podjetij Coop4Healtcare na področju zdravstva, ki poteka v okviru vašega programa DIH.HealthDay.si.

Interview: Giovanni Loser of Biovalley Investments

Dear Mr. Loser, what is your company's area of expertise?

 Biovalley Investments S.p.A. is a company that invests in research as well as in promising and innovative companies in the field of biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare information technology. Along with extensive experience in obtaining EU funds, we also provide capital for emerging firms. I am the CEO of Biovalley Investments Partner.

 What interests you as an investor?

 Our mission is to support companies in the Alpe-Adria region. In this respect, we are looking for investment opportunities in Slovenia among others. We are currently cooperating with a few Slovenian companies and see great potential for future collaboration in the future.

 As investors, we want to support companies which can conquer global markets with breakthrough solutions supported by capable teams. We have formed partneships with companies that are focused on biosimilars and interoperability in medical imaging. We also see great potential in data analytics using artificial intelligence. This is a topic that attracts many entrepreneurs and researchers in Trieste, which is in part due to the fact that the city has a strong scientific foundation in mathematics and physics. Importance of science for us can be seen from the fact that the number of researchers per 1000 people in our region is 5 times greater than the EU average. Many remarkable technologies have emerged from the regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (which includes Trieste) and have also housed a few Nobel laureates.

What are some of your partners in the international environment?

 We are collaborating with leading experts in Europe, for example European commission, as well as in the US. Across the pond, I have studied and developed connections in Harvard, Stanford university (Silicon Valley) among others. From our experience, we have learnt that it is imperative to quickly gather one's competences in order to succeed in today's markets. As investors, we are not only facilitating a company's development from seed to a big corporation, but we are also trying to find the right combination of factors which would allow them to perform best on the market.

Stemming from this, what is your message for Slovenian companies?

 Slovenian companies are distinguished by their well-trained staff and high-quality education. What we see is that companies are trying to replicate solutions that are performing well abroad; this trend is common not only in Slovenia, but also in other countries in the region. In this case, it is sensible for firm to have good insight into the inner workings of leading solutions and try to find ways not only to copy them, but also to updgrade and improve on them.

 According to our knowledge, there isn't any real investor capital in Slovenia or it is available in very limited quantity, most often across the border. We are your closest neighbors and investing in Slovenia is part of our long-term strategy. I strongly believe  we can find ways to cooperate constructively, as this is our cultural and business area of interest. We want to enable Slovenian companies to enter the Italian market, specifically our healthcare system. However, it is worth noting that the world is a global village and companies must have the capacity to enter the world's toughest markets.

 I am in Slovenia on a monthly basis. I believe we can achieve great things in collaboration with  Technology Park Ljubljana and the community of HealthDay.si as well as other interested parties.

Where will Slovenian innovators be able to meet you?

 There is more and more of such opportunities, which includes events in Italy and Slovenia. Last year, my colleague from VivaBioCell Antonio Sfiligoj, presented the ARTE project (Interreg SI-IT) in HealthDay.si conference. This year in July, TPLJ, HealthDay.si and Biovalley Investments organized a workshop in Trieste (TRAIN project, Interreg SI-IT), where Slovenian companies educated themselves about the Italian ecosystem, market entry and healthcare system. The big Meet in Italy for Life Sciences conference will be held in Trieste from 16th to 18th October. As far as I know, it will be attended by TPLJ and HealthDay.si communities as well as several collaborating companies. I hope that we will also be able to attend the HealthDay.si conference on October 10th, 2019. If all goes according to plan, I will be giving a guest lecture at the worskhop organized by DIH.HealthDay.si, that will take place on December 12th regarding financing of companies in the field of healthcare (COOP4HEALTHCARE, Interreg SLO-AT). It is important to stay in touch and connect with one another. This can be a basis for further collaboration and partnerships.