Pioneer Group, the life science infrastructure and venture building specialist, has joined forces with Innovate UK, The Medical Research Council (MRC) and AstraZeneca, to deliver the AI in Health Accelerator 2024/2025 Programme.
The Accelerator is designed to help entrepreneurs confidently market their AI-driven healthcare solutions and accelerate novel technology development time to market. The partners will collaborate across all elements of the Accelerator Programme, including its design and operation.
Ayokunmi Ajetunmobi, Head of Ventures at Pioneer, explains the rationale behind the partnership: “Research published in Nature Biotechnology demonstrated the significant impact the involvement of healthcare research and innovation partners can have on the success rate of early-stage life science companies; increasing start-up success from 18% to 37%. Those companies were also more likely to be acquired than their peers and the likelihood of acquisition increased from 23% to 53%.
“This evidence demonstrates why programmes such as AI in Health Accelerator are important and valuable to early-stage companies. This partnership provides a unique opportunity for UK life sciences start-ups to collaborate with a global pharma company and derisk their technical and commercial development. Through the programme, we look forward to helping early-stage entrepreneurs bring their AI innovations to market through expert commercial support and access to grant funding.”
Magnus Nyden, Head of xSITE at AstraZeneca, said: “We are excited to announce this groundbreaking partnership between AZ and Pioneer Group, which represents our on-going commitment to harness AI and digital technologies as fundamental technologies for innovation in healthcare. Through the AI Accelerator Programme, we’re creating a unique platform and ecosystem for UK companies to accelerate along the technology readiness level (TRL) pathway, aided by our industry expert support, insight and strategic direction. xSITE is proud to be at the forefront of this initiative, helping to drive the future of pharma innovation and shaping new possibilities for our industry.”
