Sviluppumbria and Umbrian SME UBT among 5 finalists for the 2021 Enterprise Europe Network Awards

Sviluppumbria and Umbrian SME UBT among 5 finalists for the 2021 Enterprise Europe Network Awards

It is the Enterprise Europe Network, the largest support network for SMEs, established by the European Commission with the key mission of helping small and medium-sized enterprises to grow, innovate and internationalise. In Umbria, the Network is represented by Sviluppumbria SpA which, as the Umbria Region’s Economic Development Agency, combines the free consultancy and global matchmaking services offered by the Network with the opportunities and tools for technical and financial assistance to businesses provided by the Umbria Region. Thanks to this winning approach, this year, for the first time, the collaboration between Sviluppumbria and an Umbrian company -UBT Srl, Umbria Bioengineering Technologies - is among the 5 finalist success stories nominated for the EEN Awards 2021 in the category “Inspiring Client Journey”.

Sviluppumbria has assisted UBT, an innovative start-up in the biomedical sector, on its growth path, from its entire experimental process from the idea to market, helping launch MammoWave on an international scale. This X-ray-free mammogram uses harmless microwaves instead of dangerous ionizing radiation for the detection of breast cancer. There are many advantages to this innovative medical device created by UBT: it is 100% safe and comfortable for patients, who can repeat the examination whenever indicated, in any condition (age, health, etc.), without the compression of the breast necessary for standard mammography. In addition, its cutting-edge, highly accurate technology positions it for broad use in breast cancer screening.

These aspects make MammoWave superior to existing devices for both patients and laboratories and diagnostic facilities, improving their performance in terms of prevention. The same technology is in clinical trials for the detection and classification of brain stroke (Brainwave) and work is also underway on its application to bones and lungs.

Sviluppumbria has supported UBT in accessing the main regional and European programs that support innovative enterprises. Network services have aided UBT in understanding the mechanisms of the European research program Horizon 2020 and to become able to prepare business plans, project proposals and winning pitches, through participation in training sessions organized by the national desk of APRE and EASME and in international matchmaking events. Among the milestones along the way was successful participation in Horizon2020, which awarded UBT important funding (over 2M€) under SME Instrument phase 1 and phase 2 and FET-Future Emerging Technologies.

“Sviluppumbria is proud to have supported a young company like UBT with a great technological know-how throughout its evolution,” said Michela Sciurpa, president of Sviluppumbria SpA. “UBT’s management has shown great foresight in seeking our experts’ advice. The company has achieved all the objectives for growth and experimentation that we set together. We consider the nomination for the EEN Awards 2021 as a further step forward in UBT’s path of success and approval by evaluators and public and private investors”.

“Sviluppumbria and EEN have made a valuable contribution to UBT, advising us to pay particular attention not only to the purely scientific aspects, but also to the definition of a solid business model, to the commercialization strategy, and to the elaboration of an industrialization and marketing plan,” said Sabatino Tiberi, CEO of UBT. “Thanks to European funding, the international clinical trial has been started in prestigious Italian, Spanish and German hospitals and the CE mark has been obtained. In 2020,” added Tiberi, “UBT joined a consortium with European giants of research (CNRS and the Iberian Institute of Nanotechnology) and industry (THALES SA, European leader in the aerospace sector). Together we presented and won, with the highest score, a futuristic FET project that aims to build a ‘hardware neural network’ with an interior structure that simulates the synapses of the neurons of the cerebral cortex at a speed of seven orders of magnitude higher. This project, if realized, will revolutionize the field of Artificial Intelligence. The economic resources that come from this project are a secondary factor compared to the possibility of reaching an accuracy close to 100% for MammoWave, with applications on the other diagnostic areas in which UBT works (brain, bones, lungs, etc.). This promises incalculable benefits in terms of health outcomes and access to countless patents in the biomedical field. In addition, the award of a new Marie Curie project, in a consortium with 13 other international partners, will allow UBT to deepen its research areas”.

The Umbria Region’s Councillor for Economic Development and Innovation Michele Fioroni commented, “Today the challenge is to be able to transform good ideas by accompanying them throughout their life cycle and creating a strong synergy between the support made available by the Region, and the national and European measures to support research and innovation. Today there are many public funds for start-ups, but often companies are too immature or inexperienced to benefit from them. Territorial actors therefore have the fundamental task of supporting the most deserving projects from the earliest stages and make them ready to access the important opportunities offered beyond regional boundaries.” The Councillor added,“the well-deserved recognition that arrives today from the European Union is an example of the results to which a constant dialogue between public and private actors can lead and is a modus operandi that we as a department are strengthening and innovating, with a view to making the territory increasingly fertile to innovation and interconnected with national and international networks that favour its maturation.”

The EEN Awards will be announced in September during the Annual Conference of the Enterprise Europe Network.

UBT’s STORY

UBT - Umbria Bioengineering Technologies was founded in 2015 as a spin-off of the University of Perugia. The adventure began with the intuition of a young engineer and theoretical physicist, Gianluigi Tiberi. Thanks to a Marie Curie scholarship, he had the opportunity to go to Oxford and verify, in cutting-edge laboratories, his theories on the possibility that microwaves can be used to visualise the interior of an object. Back in Italy, he met Giovanni Raspa, an expert in mechatronics, and with his father Sabatino Tiberi, an experienced manager, they decided to design and build a first prototype of a mammograph that uses microwaves according to the algorithm, now well-established.

Today, the company has changed radically, growing from the initial seven partners to a team of 23 people (Board of Directors and Advisors included) who contribute capital and technical, managerial and medical skills. In addition to its great expertise and professionalism, the team is characterized by strong motivation, passion, personal friendship, and a desire to work together toward their goals. The company has very strong leadership through a board of directors composed of experts in management, finance and medical areas. The scientific team, grown around the co-inventors, is composed of young people with excellent theoretical training and significant research experience at the most prestigious universities (Perugia, Pisa, L’Aquila, ILL Grenoble, Barcelona, King’s College Oxford) as well as diversified and complementary skills in key areas of the project. In addition, there is a medical team, a series of consultants (including KAM consultants - Key Account Manager - identified with Sviluppumbria SpA, partner of the Enterprise Europe Network) and collaboration with several universities, including the University of Perugia, the University of Pisa, and London South Bank University (LSBU UK).