During the Phase 1 project, in 2018-2019, we have spoken to and interviewed 16 experts and potential customers to gain a complete understanding of their wants and needs, the solution’s technical acceptance, customer’s willingness to pay (pricing validation), and expected conversion rates. We also run an intense 6 months trial with our partner vasQlab, who tested the platform with biological cells. The tests’ results provided a valuable source of information to enhance the platform and its components over the course of various iterations. Additionally, our partner 300MICRONS tested the platform in terms of autoclavation and ease of cleaning in order to prevent contamination.
Feedback to and reception on the technical feasibility of our core innovation has been sincerely positive throughout the project. As one of the most important factors in the development of fluidic platforms is the choice of materials, our innovation was being tested to evaluate how, in addition to purely biological aspects, other factors such as rinsability and optical transparency also play a role. For these reasons, a material research was carried out with regard to various properties relevant for the fluidic platform.
The collected pilot data and user experience feedbacks provided us with sufficient data to create a development plan towards TRL9. Willingness to pay, price validation, and expected conversion rates were demonstrated in each particular case. The Phase 1 project helped to validate the business concept by demonstrating the market need for our product as well as evaluate the prospects for European growth and international expansion, consistent with the company’s commercialisation plans. memetis has also undertaken several complementary actions to maximize its market success, by defining and implementing the communication needs (product positioning and marketing message) to be used during the commercialization phase, thereby creating the basis for successful product launch.
