Blog 01 - Rosa takes home a prize at the Launch: Great West Awards
June 6th, 2019
Andy Boyce, CEO
Last night was an exciting night for Bristol’s budding science entrepreneurs and for Rosa Biotech in particular. Spinup Science and the Bristol BioDesign Institute organised the first Launch Great West Awards event to celebrate the rapid growth of new science-driven companies in the region.
Rosa was invited to submit an application in the Ones to Watch category. This highlights research at the early stages of the commercialisation journey, either pre-incorporation or incorporated within the last 12 months. We were very pleased to be named as finalists alongside Elem Biotech, Glaia, Metasonics and Naturbeads.
Arriving slightly early at Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel in Bristol, I thought I might be met by a few colleagues chatting quietly to people they already knew, but the complete opposite was the case. Hundreds of people from different areas of the innovation community in the South West were enthusiastically networking, admiring the art and science installations, and marvelling at how different people looked in evening wear. Not to be outdone, our CSO, Dek Woolfson, was rocking a waistcoat covered in images of the alpha-helical barrels that underpin our technology – I was assured it didn’t reveal any company secrets!
The event kicked off with some inspiring speeches from Science Communicator, Emily Grossman; Special Advisor to the Vice Chancellor of the University of Bristol, Martin Sadler; and Professor of Biochemistry and serial entrepreneur, Imre Berger. This was followed by some free wine, and then the moment everyone had been waiting for – the awards.
Rosa’s category was up first so we didn’t have to wait long for the amazing (and slightly humbling) news that we had won the Ones to Watch award!
It was fantastic to have something that we have been working to get off the ground validated in this way. The award will take pride of place in our new home at Unit DX and we hope that it will be joined by some friends soon.