January 20, 2012: Bayer HealthCare is expanding its US Innovation Center with opening of the CoLaborator, a 550 sq m shared lab for start-up life science companies whose technology platforms, drug targets or drug candidates align with Bayer’s portfolio. The CoLaborator is expected to house three to four small companies and will be launched by late summer 2012 at its Mission Bay, California location.
“The CoLaborator is a natural extension of our unique approach to research partnerships where we recognise that innovation is a collaborative process and focus on sharing risks and rewards, stepping beyond the confines of a traditional life science incubator,” said Prof. Andreas Busch, PhD, member of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee and head of Global Drug Discovery.
Demand for start-up lab space to support academic researchers and their teams of post-doctoral and graduate students remains high in California. According to the most recent industry report from BayBio and the California Healthcare Institute, researchers at the University of California (UC) produce, on average, four new inventions a day, and UC develops more patents than any other university in the USA. This high level of research productivity has resulted in 461 start-ups since 1976 according to the California Biomedical Industry 2011 Report.
The goal of Bayer’s CoLaborator approach is to support start-ups in establishing their research labs, with academic researchers spinning out new firms and venture capital groups being the likely sources of these companies. In addition to lab facilities, access to the global expertise and equipment of Bayer’s research network will be available to CoLaborator scientists. In return for low-cost, ready-to-use lab space and access to its global expertise, Bayer would seek preferred access to partner with the emerging companies.
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