From radiotherapy against prostate cancer to detecting biomarkers in sweat, and from new drugs against Alzheimer's disease to a camera the size of a pill, the new Faculty of Impact fellows want to bring these and more ground-breaking innovations to the market.
With the Faculty of Impact the selected researchers with entrepreneurial ambitions will receive two years of intensive and personal guidance from experts in entrepreneurship, intellectual property and investment. They keep (or get) an appointment at their university for that period, but are exempted from administrative and teaching obligations. This gives them time and space to take their innovation into the world.
Dr. Anouk Post from the Biomedical and Imaging group received the NWO Faculty of Impact reward for her proposal "LightUP: a pill-sized imaging device for the early detection of oesophageal cancer".
- Each year, 600,000 people are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and 75% die within 5 years after receiving this diagnosis. Early detection dramatically improves survival rates. Screening is offered to people with Barrett’s oesophagus, a disease linked to a higher oesophageal cancer risk, but it misses 25% of early cancer and is expensive. We created the LightUP, a pill-sized imaging device that will detect at least 25% more early cancer than current screening, at a lower cost. LightUP will improve the survival chances of screened patients and could allow the expansion of the screening program to more at-risk patients.
Faculty of Impact
One of the ambitions of the Netherlands is to ensure that scientific research is used to address societal issues and realise economic growth. Many scientific discoveries do not reach the market, partly because researchers often lack the experience and knowledge needed to make an innovation market-ready and set up a commercial organisation. Therefore, the Faculty of Impact offers an intensive, two-year programme for scientists who want to make an impact with their research and start their own business.