This year, the winning project comes from the medical field. Florian Föger presented a solution for people who have to inject pharmaceutical proteins on a daily basis. Regular injections can lead to skin irritation or pain at the puncture site. To make things easier for patients, Föger dealt with the administration of drugs in his Ph.D. thesis and developed a solution to provide these substances in the form of a pill.
Without a name but with a plan
Even if he has no official name for his project yet, there are plans to put his idea into practice and found a startup in 2015. So, taking part in the adventure x competition was the first step in the right direction for Föger: “Adventure X competition was great fun and helped to focus on the business model. We also got great support from CAST.” But before going on the founding adventure, Föger will spend the 8.000 euros prize money on further research in this pharmaceutical area.
The project is modeled in a lean setup where most activities are outsourced to CROs or patent attorneys. For future investments, Föger already made first contacts with angel investors and stated: “[T]here is also a possibility to finance the company via early pharma collaborations.” After taking part in another competition, the Best of Biotech (BOB), Föger wants to “get in contact with first pharma companies who could benefit from our drug delivery technology.”
An new adventure for young entrepreneurs
The founder competition adventure X is an initiate of Standortagentur Tirol, Wirtschaftskammer Tirol and has CAST, Tiwag, Eastline, Prisma, KPMG, MCI and Tiroler Tageszeitung as partners. Adventure X started in 2000/2001 and presented itself in a new format this year. Next to coaching, the shortened three month programme aims to convey marketing strategies and support young enthusiasts in formulating business goals.
„Adventure X gives important impulses. It aims to motivate bright minds with innovative ideas to take the first steps into the right direction and gives them safety by developing ideas together with experts,” council Patrizia Zoller-Frischauf said.
While the second place of 6.000 euros went to the team of EasyMount who developed frameless holders for smart devices, XQZT Skis received 4.000 euros and made the third place with their handcrafted and customised skis. An additional prize was given out to the Tyrolean Team „Gemeinschaftsgarten“ (i.e. community garden) who aim to rent 5.000m² area in a local area to be planted by a biological farmer with 20 different kinds of vegetables.
