BioRegio STERN Management GmbH played host to the ten partners in the new European Interreg project Boost4Health. The representatives from business and technological development organisations and universities from North-West Europe came together in Stuttgart for their kick-off meeting. The project, which will run for at least three years, has funding totalling EUR 4.3 million.

BioRegio STERN Management GmbH is a partner in the new European Interreg project Boost4Health, which is intended to make internationalisation easier for small and medium-sized enterprises from the life sciences sector, including medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical companies as well as the food industry. The Interreg programme promotes transnational cooperation in North-West Europe. Differing healthcare systems and approval regulations continue to present major barriers to companies’ international expansion. Overall, the Boost4Health project has EUR 4.3 million of funding available to provide entrepreneurs with services and experts for international growth strategies. A skill-sharing network for validating health products is also being set up.

In collaboration with the Dutch technological development agency Brabantse Ontwik-kelings Maatschappij (BOM) from northern Brabant, BioRegio STERN Management GmbH is managing the “long-term effects” work package, with access to EUR 348,000 until 2019. It is thus supporting the economic development of regional and transnational SMEs, with examples including initiatives for strategic partnerships between industries and regions and easier access to financing. It will also be expanding the Boost4Health network with international matchmaking events and making its specialist know-how in the engineering and medtech sectors available to other clusters. Senior project manager Dr. Manfred Kauer from BioRegio STERN Management GmbH is thoroughly impressed by this approach: “With Boost4Health, we’re targeting our support at companies whose health products have a certain level of maturity but don’t yet have a strategy for international sales opportunities. The financial incentives will be tailored exactly to the needs of the companies and their target markets.”

To support the international growth of SMEs on a long-term basis, a total of ten regions with the relevant expertise will work together led by the Dutch technological development agency BOM, namely GM Business Support Ltd and Kent County Council from the UK, Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Oost Nederland NV from the Netherlands, Biocat, la Fundació BioRegió de Catalunya, from Spain, the University of Liège from Belgium, ID2Santé and Eurasanté from France, Biopeople at the University of Copenhagen from Denmark and BioRegio STERN Management GmbH from Germany.