Accelerator Programme Welcomes Start-Ups

Ten new start-ups have joined the seventh intake of Merck’s Accelerator program at its Innovation Centre in Darmstadt. The teams come from nine different countries, making 2019 the most international intake in the Merck Accelerator’s history. They were chosen from a total of 565 applications, coming from startups based in 68 countries across the world.

“We are confident that inviting such a diverse group of collaboration-ready startups can lead to outstanding partnerships. We believe that startups and a company such as Merck can mutually benefit a lot from working together. Partnering with startups, we connect with new external ideas while we simultaneously help them to take off. Bringing curious and expert minds together is a tremendous opportunity to create innovations beyond our current scope,” said Michael Gamber, Head of the Merck Innovation Centre.

The ten selected startups will join the Accelerator for the program’s three-month duration. For the first time since the launch of the program, some of the participating startups will also have the opportunity to extend their stay by joining the company’s China Innovation Hub in Shanghai, which will give them the opportunity to access the Chinese market.

The accelerator welcomes startups operating in healthcare, life science and performance materials, as well as emerging areas such as bio-sensing and interfaces or liquid biopsy. This year’s program includes, for example, Nextbiotics – focusing on antibiotic-resistant bacteria and microbiomes and developing a biotechnology platform that engineers bacteriophages to target antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The startup envisions using its technology to precisely modulate the microbiome with applications in the prevention and treatment of infections for humans and animals. The other teams are working on developments including affordable point-of-care diagnostic devices through intelligent solution, to developing 3D bioprinted skin, to even analysing patients’ tumour samples in order to identify their level of drug resistance and determine the best type of cancer treatment.