Press releases, 2008-12-03

The eye as a window into the body – Innovator EyeSense wins 2008 STEP Award

The grand prize of € 100,000 in this year's STEP Award competition went to an innovative, outside-the-box business idea that will improve the quality of life for many diabetes patients. EyeSense GmbH won the 2008 STEP Award at a gala event in the historic Peter Behrens Building in Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt. Peter Herbrechtsmeier, Chief Executive Officer, and Achim Müller, Chief Scientific Officer, accepted the prize while over 100 entrepreneurs, sponsors and partners of the competition looked on. The competition's initiators, Roland Mohr, Managing Director of Infraserv Höchst, and Volker Sach, Managing Director of F.A.Z.-Institut, presented the trophy to the proud winners.

EyeSense was established in 2006 as a spin-off of Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, and looks forward to a promising future in the fast-growing diabetes market. Based in Grossostheim near Aschaffenburg, the firm has found a new, innovative way to satisfy a previously unmet need in the treatment of diabetes: replacing finger-sticking, the conventional method for monitoring blood glucose levels.

New pain-free self-diagnostics for patients

EyeSense transforms the eye into a window to the patient's body with a glucose-specific mini-sensor, which is placed below the conjunctiva of the eye in a simple, painless procedure. The conjunctiva was chosen because it tolerates implants much better than other areas of the body. Blood glucose is measured optically in the interstitial fluid below the conjunctiva. Essentially, the implant is a chemical sensor that reacts to blood glucose and sends out different intensities of fluorescent light depending on glucose concentrations. Once the product is fully developed, patients will be able to measure blood glucose non-invasively by placing a small, user-friendly photometer in front of their eye. This will open up new possibilities in self-diagnostics.

EyeSense will receive a total of € 50,000 in cash and a comprehensive consulting and service package worth the same amount. These services will be provided by STEP Award sponsors and partners to help the prize-winner during their next stage of growth. The package includes patent searches, strategy and business-development consulting, help finding technology partners, assistance with finances, logistics and clinical studies, giving legal and communications seminars as well as providing access to technical workshops.
Since immediate access to commercial property and infrastructure is so important for a growing business, the prize-winner will also have the option of using laboratory and office facilities in Industriepark Höchst rent-free for two years.

Record-breaking participation with 120 candidates

This year, the STEP Award competition attracted around 120 German, Swiss and Austrian companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical, life science, biotech, nanotechnology, medical technology and greentech industries. Last year, there were only 70 candidates. The competitors had to present their business model, expansion mission and competitive situation as well as their patent situation and implementation plan. After receiving all the entries, the business and science experts on the jury identified the ten finalists who met the balanced scorecard criteria (management, market/customer, processes, product/technology and finance); they were given the opportunity to personally present their companies to the jury once again in late October. Then, the jury selected the winners of the grand prize and category prizes.

Four category prizes

The prizes for the best growing businesses in the Market/Customer, Processes, Product/Technology and Finance categories went to:

Market/Customer: mosaiques diagnostics and therapeutics AG

mosaiques diagnostics & therapeutics AG was established in 2002 in Hanover, Germany. Its core competence is the early and reliable detection of diseases enabling personalized medicine during therapy and drug development. The company utilizes diagnostic polypeptide patterns derived from the analysis of urine and other body fluids to effectively diagnose diseases and monitor treatment progress. mosaiques has become the world's leading provider of clinical proteome analysis.

Processes: Inventux Technologies AG

Established in 2007, Inventux Technologies AG is a solar company specializing in the development, production and marketing of silicon-based thin-film solar modules. Inventux's proprietary technology, which has never before been used in Europe, has the potential to greatly improve efficiency and simplify the production of photovoltaic modules. The cost savings are significant and will help advance solar power as a clean and viable alternative to conventional energy. The company aims to become one of the world's leading providers of cost-effective thin-film photovoltaic modules based on its growth-focused serial production.

Product/Technology: Pieris AG

Pieris AG is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and production of Anticalins®, a novel class of human binding proteins, for the diagnosis and treatment of severe human disorders. Exploiting extensive know-how in protein engineering as part of a broad intellectual-property portfolio, the company applies a balanced-risk business model to the development and marketing of innovative Anticalin® product candidates. Pieris was established in 2001 as a spin-off of the Technical University of Munich.

Finance: R-Biopharm AG

Working in the fields of clinical diagnostics and food and feed analysis, R-Biopharm employs its innovative and reliable products to develop pioneering solutions. Its entire product portfolio is commonly used in government testing laboratories focused on consumer protection or in private-sector contract laboratories. R-Biopharm AG was established in 1988 as a subsidiary of Röhm GmbH in Darmstadt. The diagnostics provider is now represented by a global network of more than 80 distributors.

"Spirit to expand"

The STEP Award competition was created to support up-and-coming firms who not only are close to a major breakthrough, but have also shown their commitment to the "spirit to expand" celebrated by the STEP Award. The contest was initiated by F.A.Z.-Institut Innovationsprojekte and Infraserv Höchst, an industrial-services provider and the operator of Industriepark Höchst. They have joined forces with many competition sponsors to give growing companies the support they need to evolve successfully.

Main sponsors: Commerzbank, Hessen Agentur, Mayer Brown, Merck Serono and Sanofi-Aventis


The main sponsors for STEP Award 2008 are Commerzbank, Hessen Agentur, Mayer Brown, Merck Serono and Sanofi-Aventis. Many other companies and institutions are involved as sponsors as well.


The proud winners of the 2008 STEP Award at the presentation ceremony in Industriepark Höchst (left to right): Harald-Gerhard Geppert and Joachim Conrads, both from mosaiques diagnostics and therapeutics, Andreas Häger and Christian Plesser, both from Inventux Technologies, grand prize winners Achim Müller and Peter Herbrechtsmeier from EyeSense, Roland Mohr, COO of Infraserv Höchst, Ralf Dreher and Carsten Bruns, both from R-Biopharm, and Volker Sach, from F.A.Z.-Institut
© 2008 Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst KG
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The photometer is a completely pain-free way to measure blood glucose levels in the patient's eye.
© EyeSense GmbH, 2008
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For more information about the STEP Award:

F.A.Z.-Institut
Innovationsprojekte
Thorsten Würschinger
Phone +49 69 7591-2194
t.wuerschinger@faz-institut.de
www.step-award.de

The initiators – Infraserv Höchst und F.A.Z.-Institut, Innovationsprojekte

Infraserv is a leading infrastructure operator and service provider for the chemical, pharmaceutical and related process industries. Infraserv operates one of the biggest research and production sites in Europe: Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt, Germany.

F.A.Z.-Institut Innovationsprojekte specializes in innovation-related communication, knowledge transfer, experience sharing and consulting for executives and professionals. As innovation is increasingly viewed as an all-encompassing process, innovation and communication have become more tightly integrated and have risen to key disciplines in the management of successful businesses.