11 April 2024
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Kurt Gielen is Chief Business Officer at Medace. A (bio)medical co-working space, based in Maastricht, working with startups on biomedical innovations. Medace is committed to bringing innovative (bio)medical concepts to the market and to patients faster.
Introducing
Kurt's background is in biochemistry, but working in a lab didn't turn out to be for him. Biomedical innovations did attract his interest. He took his first steps in industry and went to work for an American corporate. Since August 2013, Kurt has been back in Limburg. The first 6 years at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus as a business developer. Here he came into contact with the Chemelot Institute for Science and Technology, a large research institute. Funded in part by the Province of Limburg, but also involved Maastricht UMC+, DSM and TU Eindhoven.
'That's actually where the concept of Medace originated,' Kurt explains. 'Our CEO Danielle Curfs was then program director of the biomedical program. At this institute, they were able to develop late-stage academic projects through to clinical trials. Exceptional, because usually research institutes are a little earlier in the innovation chain.
Danielle learned that a number of essential components were missing to develop this type of innovation through to the first clinical phase. For one thing, quality/regulatory knowledge; for another, having facilities such as clean rooms available. Initially, these things were rigged for internal projects. Until four Limburg startups came knocking on the door and literally said, "What you have set up for those internal projects is exactly what we need as an early-stage startup." That's how the ball got rolling.
In 2019, a number of strategic parties from Limburg invested in Medace together. We still focus on early phase innovations within university groups or startups and develop them through to the first clinical trials. Only we now do so as an independent organization.
In addition to the management, which Danielle and I make up together, I am responsible for the commercial piece. A large part I'm busy with business development, attracting new customers and setting up collaborations. But also with HR and operational matters to all the little details that come my way on a daily basis.'
"My biggest problem is that I get bored easily. I haven't had that at Medace for a minute in 4 years."
Why are you engaged in sustainable business?
'What Medace does fits very well within corporate sustainability for a number of reasons. We see that healthcare is a significant cost that will only increase as we all (want to) live longer healthy lives. But we also see that many innovations never make it to the patient. Budgets for research and development, often end up as a PhD thesis in an archive. That's just a shame, because there are many good concepts that never make it to the patient. This is also why we do what we do. Our primary motivation is to bring as many innovations as possible to the patient through clinical trials.
Not all innovations work or are safe to use in humans. But we know that our way of working does greatly increase the success rate of these types of innovations. Then an efficiency battle occurs. And in that way we are very much engaged in sustainable business.
Another important aspect of our model is that we share where we can share. If a startup needs a clean room for a few months, it can flexibly rent it from us. Because we have molded this into a kind of sharing model, we are being sustainable on multiple levels.'
What will it take to accelerate the path to a sustainable society?
'I think it's important for people to learn to work together in a different way. We come from a very liberal economy, where it's almost "the winner takes it all. This is often at the expense of other parties in the chain.
At Medace, it's not about maximizing our profits in the short term. We work with our clients to see how they can take those steps forward. And in the end, everyone benefits. But this requires a very different way of working together that is much more sustainable and where we develop new models together.'
What do you contribute to a smarter, more sustainable and/or healthier Limburg?
'Medace is a learning and working environment. We set up our model to teach clients and their teams how to do it themselves. This keeps the knowledge completely with these young companies. This is a big advantage of our model compared to others in the market.
An alternative way is to outsource everything to a contract manufacturer. However, that doesn't make you smarter as a startup. The knowledge then often ends up with larger companies and it remains confined there.
We are not looking to build as much knowledge internally as possible. Only if it is relevant to our services. But with these kinds of specific medical innovations, the knowledge should mainly land with our customers. This is how we build a smarter and healthier Limburg together.'
"With these types of specific medical innovations, the knowledge must land with our customers. This is how we build a smarter and healthier Limburg together."
Do you have any tips for other entrepreneurs/businesses?
'Engage openly and sincerely with players in the market. All our clients are early-stage startups where the problems and questions are many times greater than the certainties and results. Often that scares the people within such a startup, because you are coming from a weaker position. So look for new ways to collaborate. If you go into the market openly with your story and challenges, you will come across parties who are willing to work on them with you.
What often happens is that companies keep everything to themselves or paint too rosy a picture and therefore enter into partnerships with the wrong image. At Medace, we are always very direct and open. We name the things that need to be named, so clients can work on them and actually make steps forward.'
Why are you a member of shiftLimburg?
'We are surrounded by strategic parties from the region, such as Province of Limburg, LIOF, Maastricht University, UMC+ and the Brightlands campuses in Geleen and Maastricht. In that whole ecosystem, Medace plays an essential and central role. Strengthening our regional economy requires many parties and tools. ShiftLimburg is a piece of that big puzzle. Together we are working on a smarter, more sustainable and healthier Limburg!"
