As part of MassBio’s continued efforts to encourage innovation and embrace diversity, the inaugural MassBio Innovation Week will take place virtually from December 5 through December 9, 2022. Innovation Week will showcase emerging companies with diverse founders, and academic research from scientists with diverse backgrounds, whose work could have a transformational impact on all patients. Events throughout the week will introduce these changemakers to prospective partners and investors.
What you’ll see: Each day will be organized by therapeutic area and feature thought-provoking and inspirational keynotes from industry leaders and subject matter experts emphasizing underserved areas of unmet medical needs. Each day will also include pitches from founders and researchers, along with networking with representatives from the full breadth of the local, Massachusetts innovation ecosystem.
Be in the room: Established biopharma, emerging and early-stage biotech companies, academic institutions, principal investigators, and impact investors should register to hear pitches by founders and researchers. Presentations will be made by individuals from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in the industry – including people of color, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and people with disabilities—and those working toward greater health equity, clinical diversity, and/or who are making an impact in underserved disease areas or diseases that adversely affect underrepresented communities.
What they’re saying:
- MassBio CEO Joe Boncore: “Putting founders from diverse backgrounds and startups advancing the causes of health equity and clinical diversity in the same room as big pharma and VC investors is a recipe for establishing new connections, catalyzing meaningful change, and advancing exciting science.”
- MassBio President and COO Kendalle Burlin O’Connell: “How do we improve our world-leading innovation ecosystem? By driving scientific discovery forward through a workforce that is more diverse, clinical trials that are more inclusive, and disease focus areas that are more equitably selected. We envision Innovation Week as one way for MassBio to move the needle on these important goals. I personally can’t wait to see the partnerships that will come out of this exciting new offering.”
Details on therapeutic areas:
- Monday, Dec 5, 2022: Oncology
- Tuesday, Dec 6, 2022: Infectious Diseases (specifically, AMR)
- Wednesday, Dec 7, 2022: Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases and Rare Diseases
- Thursday, Dec 8, 2022: Neuroscience
Get on stage: Founders and researchers who are interested in delivering a 20-minute presentation to a live, virtual audience, please email your company name and information in order to be considered. Just five slots are available each day.
Making it happen: MassBio is grateful to have AMR Action Fund, Astellas, Bristol Myers Squibb, CARB-X, Johnson & Johnson, Novo Holdings’ REPAIR Impact Fund, and Sanofi as sponsors of Innovation Week, and ACS BrightEdge, Black Women in Science and Engineering (BWISE), Equalize, LabCentral Ignite, Latinos in Bio, and Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology (WEST) as affinity partners.