Catalyst Europe
FAQs

Fellows are the participants of the Catalyst Europe program. Their profile typically is PhD students, postdocs, researchers in a company or academia, or clinicians (residents, fellows, attendings) who would like to accelerate the impact of biomedical research. Other early stage professionals interested in biomedical research may be considered if they fit the cohort. They typically have experience or interest in any domain area linked to health technology: life sciences, engineering, biomedical engineering, data science or any clinical domain. They form what we call an “innovation cohort” and they organically form teams throughout the program to identify unmet medical needs,  brainstorm and evaluate potential solutions and plan research project proposals.

There will be 9-12 fellows participating in Catalyst Europe 2023. 

Professionals (from academic, clinical and commercial background) with a strong experience and interest in health innovation, who will share their expertise with Fellows, guide them through the Catalyst process and run workshops during the program.

Fellows must attend weekly sessions on Thursdays from 3pm CET to 6pm CET from September 7th, 2023, to March 7th, 2024. All these sessions will run online, via videoconference.

Fellows are also expected to attend one 3-day Intensification in-person, and two 3-day intensifications online (according to the information published on the 2023 edition webpage and in the Terms & Conditions).

Fellows are expected to dedicate an average of 10-12 hours/week to the regular weekly activities of the program, including Sessions, personal work and teamwork – personal and team work in a flexible schedule format.

For the 3-day Intensification meetings, Fellows are expected to work full time.

Thanks to the generosity of our donors and partners, this program does not require fellows to pay tuition.

One intensifications will require travel and in-person attendance (check the Terms & Conditions or the 2023 Edition webpage). For the intensifications that are held in-person, the organizer will cover flights and accommodation. The remaining travel expenses will be borne by Fellows.

You will learn the Catalyst methodology for biomedical research innovation. Faculty mentors will support in teams in identifying and validating unmet needs in healthcare, especially around the innovation priority areas. During the program, teams will develop a deep understanding of the problem and ideate solutions. You will then develop a research project plan further validate and de-risk your project concept. The research project plans form the basis of the “final” presentations and these projects form the cohort’s portfolio.

After the program, Fellows are expected to apply for competitive research grants and raise the funds required to develop the need-driven research projects that they have defined during the program. These research proposals are planned to be conducted with strong consortiums formed after the program – Catalyst Faculty mentor the process and help fellows generate opportunities. 

This program is not designed to help you progress on an existing project or idea, but to help you leverage your knowledge and experience to initiate new research projects with high translational potential in collaboration with strong international partners. The program is designed to guide you in a process to discover and validate meaningful unmet clinical needs and plan a winning research project proposal, while surrounding yourself (and develop relationships) with all the stakeholders that may increase the translational success probability for your project.

The cohort of Catalyst Europe Fellows will, as a group, investigate medical needs and consider which to pursue; at which point various solutions will be considered. In general multiple fellows will pursue each idea, and each fellow will be involved in investigating several needs. At the conclusion of Catalyst Europe program, the group of Catalyst Fellows will have developed a portfolio of validated project opportunities. The projects will not necessarily be in an area that you have been working in until this point, though is it highly likely there will be elements of the project that overlap your interests and expertise.

Not initially. During the program you will critically examine and document how the projects, if successful, will have impact (societal, economic, etc) in the “real world.”  While in some cases that impact will arise through entrepreneurial ventures, others may have impact in other ways, such as advances in knowledge, policy developments, new clinical paradigms, or new research initiatives. We do not anticipate new IP generation during the Catalyst Europe program, when the Fellows develop a portfolio of validated project opportunities. Projects that continue after the program often generate new IP. This IP is managed by existing institutional structures and there is considerable precedent for managing IP when inventors come from multiple institutions. 

The Catalyst Europe program is organized in a way that it is not expected that fellows generate Intellectual Property during the program. It would be after the Catalyst Europe program, and during the execution of the research projects (if fellows execute them), that Intellectual Property would be generated.  

For any hypothetical intellectual property created or enhanced in the course of program activities or afterwards, it is important to notice that the participation in the Catalyst Europe program does not, in and of itself, confer on fellows any ownership, license or other interest in or to intellectual property (copyrights, inventions, trademarks, etc.). Any intellectual property generated by fellows as part of their work in the program will be handled in accordance with the institutional policies of the inventor(s).