Enterprise recognised at ACES event

Jean-Christophe Baillie: told he “had to be crazy”.

The meeting was organised by Science|Business as part of the Academic Enterprise Awards Europe 2008 (ACES), the first Europe-wide programme to recognise academics who go out on a limb to commercialise their research. The four companies are nominated for the awards.

Jean-Christophe Baillie, founder and CEO of the robotics company Gostai SA, was told he “had to be crazy” to step outside the hallowed walls of one of France’s elite Grandes Ecoles. But Baillie was driven by his vision of creating standardised software for robots. The aim is to open up applications of robots in the same way as standardised off-the-shelf software like Microsoft Windows drove the mass market in personal computers.

“Robotics is in the process of becoming maybe the leading industry of the 21st century,” Baillie told guests at the Science|Business reception, held in Casa Llotja de Mar, the home of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, on Monday.

Robots are in widespread use in industry, but they remain relatively expensive, specialised and bespoke. With the cost of components falling, Gostai now aims to develop the market for home robotics. Baillie envisions cleaning robots, home entertainment robots, robots to assist the elderly, security robots. “There are a lot of domains of application,” he said.

Robots are a long time staple of science fiction. What is making the difference now is that the cost of components has fallen dramatically. A robot equipped with a camera, a mobile phone and an Internet connection is priced at around $300 - $400.

“You start to have all the building blocks you need to assemble practical and affordable robots. And we will do the software,” said Baillie. “The plan is to standardise controls and software, then on top of that build applications.”

Into the Internet

Another seismic shift – the movement of advertising from print media and television and onto the Internet and mobile phones – was the inspiration for the founders of Futurlink, a Barcelona-based company that specialises in mobile media. For Mercè Ruestes, Business Development Manager, one key to the launch of Futurlink was the assistance provided by Esade Business School in Barcelona. “They helped with the creation of the company, assisting us to get the business plan ready and to prepare all the information we needed to start-up.”

Futurlink’s platform allows multimedia advertising information to be sent to mobiles. “For example, we send information to the mobiles of potential purchasers [advertising items] where a large proportion of the decision on what to buy is made at the point of sale,” said Ruestes.

A second platform allows mobile phone users to download data from the Internet. “Our customers use this to offer downloadable content, for example, video games.”

Futurlink has grown rapidly since its formation in 2003. It now has business in 65 countries and has attracted significant venture capital support. “It was Esade that gave us the validation we needed to get going,” said Ruestes.

Another of Europe’s “mad” entrepreneurs is Luca Ascari, Founder of Henesis, a spin out from the University of Pisa, who said, “The rest of the university think I’m a bit crazy. They ask me why I’ve left an academic career to build up something new.”

To which he replies, “I believe so much in what I’m doing, that I want to see it in a real product, in the real world, and I thought building up a company was a faster route than remaining an academic.”

Ascari’s aim is to create perception systems based on multiple sensors. “In our vision perception is the key for relationships, between robots and humans and humans and their environment,” he said.

Networked sensor systems could be used for tactile perception in robots, or for prosthetics, while machine vision systems could be used for manufacturing applications.

To some extent Henesis had an easier time getting off the ground than many other high tech start-ups because the company had a contract with Toyota Motors in Europe.

“We haven’t had any venture capital funding. So far we have raised money from business angels, and we had revenues in the first year because of the contract with Toshiba,” said Ascari.

Catching the fever

The fourth scientist entrepreneur, Carlos Buesa, Founder and CEO of Oryzon Genomics, based in Barcelona, caught entrepreneurial fever as a young EU-supported researcher on an overseas stint at the University of Ghent, Belgium, in the mid 1990s. “The university had spin offs being created and there was a lot excitement,” he said.

Back home in Barcelona the atmosphere was somewhat different. “In 1998 how could I create a company in Spain, where there was hardly any biotech sector?” said Buesa.

But when he approached the university in Barcelona about his idea of forming a company to commercialise emerging DNA chip technology he had a very good reception. “They were excited because there were hardly any universities in Spain creating spin-offs.”

Good news so far. But the problem was there was no expertise. “They wanted to help but nobody in Spain knew what to do.”

Buesa eventually found financial backers, but in mid 2000 the Internet bubble burst and the offer was withdrawn. At that point he turned to family and friends and raised €200,000 from them. This enabled him to get the company off the ground and attract some soft money from the Spanish government, and “a bit here and there” from other sources, eventually amounting to €1 million.

“My family still loves me,” said Buesa, noting that they invested at a valuation of €2 million, and Oryzon is now valued at €50 million. What’s not to like?

After one year the company raised its first venture capital round, enabling it to develop new applications for DNA chips, and started to get the first contracts. Oryzon has been profitable for the past four years and has started to invest in its own drug development portfolio.