From September 9 to 13, the Open Brain School, the education center at Paris Brain Institute, organized the 10th edition of its flagship training program in neuroscience and entrepreneurship—dedicated to fostering innovation. This event brought the opportunity to celebrate ten years of collaboration in healthcare.
The Brain to Market Summer School is an intensive five-day training program focused on a “learning by doing” approach. Participants are driven to acquire the critical skills to succeed as healthcare entrepreneurs.
A brilliant tenth-edition
Launched in 2015 by the Open Brain School, Paris Brain Institute's education center, the 2024 edition of the event brought together 48 international participants: students with a hybrid science and business profile from the Collège des Ingénieurs (CDI), neuroscience students from Sorbonne University and PSL University, young researchers from Paris Brain Institute and designers from the CY design school.
During this immersion week, the students received special coaching from a team of reputable experts in medicine, scientific research and entrepreneurship. The participants then worked in separate teams to design innovative solutions for patients, their families, medical professionals and researchers.
This year's edition of the « Brain to Market » Summer School was focused on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Motor neurone disease.
In France, 8,000 people are diagnosed with this complex neurodegenerative disease every year. It leads to a general weakening and eventually to paralysis of the limbs and respiratory muscles.
There is no cure for the disease to date. Treatment aims to preserve respiratory function and patient autonomy as long as possible.
The event benefited from the unique participation of Olivier Goy, a media personality who has dedicated himself to raising awareness of this disease, of which he is also affected, and accelerating the research being carried out at the Institute. Entrepreneur, ambassador, and major patron of the Paris Brain Institute, Olivier Goy, has been the President of ARSLA (the Association for Research on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) since June 2024. He talked about his commitment during a roundtable discussion with a representative of the ARSLA association and a referral patient.
Students also discovered the film “Invincible Eté”, a documentary on Olivier Goy's life and disability, during a private screening.
The Open Brain School was able to count on the involvement of Dr Maria del Mar Amador, a neurologist at the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital’s ALS Center, to coordinate the scientific and medical aspects of this Summer School, and on the participation of the entire medical team
A multidisciplinary teaching team
Over the week, students benefited from presentations from the clinical team at the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital’s ALS Center and from scientists at Paris Brain Institute—to understand SLA in minute detail. Students also benefited from presentations by the ARSLA patient advocacy group and testimonials from patients, including Olivier Goy, to gain insight into the daily lives of families.
On the innovation and business sides, participants had the opportunity to meet marketing experts from the Collège des Ingénieurs—a support structure for entrepreneurs associated with the Deeptech Founders research program—start-ups, such as Braintale (biomarkers), and Wandercraft (exoskeletons), the medical device manufacturer Löwenstein Medical, and investment structures mike Entrepreneur First. Thanks to this variety of stakeholders, participants had a hands-on experience of the critical stages of an innovative healthcare project: identifying and understanding the problems associated with a disease, suggesting new solutions relevant to users, and defining a product which is viable from a scientific and economic point of view.
Seeking recognition
On September 13, participants' projects were presented to a panel of scientific and business experts. The winning project and other relevant propositions will be studied by Paris Brain Institute's Innovation Department for further development.
Following the jury's deliberations, the Paris Brain Institute would like to congratulate all the teams in this 2024 edition on the quality of their projects.
Winning project: Cerv&Care, a personalized 3D-printed neck brace
Charcot's disease (ALS)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or ‘Charcot's Disease’ is a progressive and fatal neuromuscular pathology characterised by the progressive death of motor neurons, the neurons that control walking, speech, swallowing and breathing, among other...
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