Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ANAPRINT (Additive Printing for Cell-based Analysis)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2014-10-01 al 2015-03-31
The Project developed a business plan for the scalable manufacture of advanced 3D cell models needed by industry to analyse better the therapeutic potential and biosafety of materials ranging from candidate drugs to natural products, healthcare products, foods and medical devices. These models greatly improve the predictive value of such analysis compared with conventional models, but are difficult, labour-intensive and expensive to assemble. The solution to scalable manufacture at industry-relevant volume and consistent quality is to produce the models by additive printing.
The Project developed a business plan for a company with the technical capacity to produce 3D cell models by additive manufacture, to validate and demonstrate their industrial utility, and to deliver them to a known, targeted customer base on a profitable commercial basis. The business plan defined the technical requirements of the manufacturing process, mapped the beneficiary’s technology onto these requirements, and identified additional and ancillary technologies that together create a competitive commercial proposition. Technical development conducted in parallel advanced the technology readiness level of the manufacturing platform. The Project scoped the market opportunity for this manufacturing solution, identifying a first-to-market opportunity, and a time-limited competitive advantage over existing technologies. This advantage was translated into a sales forecast based on realistic product pricing and market intelligence on the scale of the current market and its predicted growth.
The scale of this commercial opportunity, the underpinning technology needed to exploit it, and the engineering, cell-biological and business development skill-sets needed to create a sustainable internationally-competitive business were identified and shown to relate to, but differ in important aspects from the beneficiary’s existing business model. Accordingly, there is a perceived incentive to build a Special Purpose Vehicle to drive this process: this will offer attractive conditions for large-scale investment, to create major global business around this unique biotechnological platform and market proposition.