Bar-Ilan University, which set up the entrepreneurship center UnBox Ventures, a platform that creates, curates, and invests in startups founded by the university's researchers and off-campus entrepreneurs, has signed a cooperation agreement with the Wolfson Medical Center, to establish joint ventures.
Groups of researchers and physicians from both institutions will participate in a mentored entrepreneurship program as part of the collaboration, led by the UnBox team which is headed by Ariel Sella, a well-experienced entrepreneur who has four decades of experience in investment and management of start-up companies in a variety of fields around the world.
"Collaboration with the Wolfson Medical Center is a great source of pride for our young entrepreneurial center that has established influential startups within just a short time," Bar-Ilan University President Prof. Arie Zaban said.
He continued, adding that "Bar-Ilan will offer the interdisciplinary aspect and Wolfson the clinical aspect in the wide-ranging areas of health. By ensuring that our researchers have access to the clinical field, we will be able to accelerate the development process of research-based ideas at both institutions."
The collaboration aims at performing product-customer validation in the global market, and establishing startups with founding partners from Bar-Ilan, Wolfson, and outside entrepreneurs.
"The need for innovative and advanced medicine is a necessity that we at Wolfson Medical Center have set for ourselves as a top priority, and this kind of collaboration is exactly the way we wish to move forward," said Wolfson Medical Center Director General Dr. Anat Engel.
"The Entrepreneurship Center will provide a generation of entrepreneurial researchers the opportunity to effect change and make an impact, and we will all reap the fruits of their labor in the future," Engel said.
"Along with providing medical services, we at Wolfson are excited about this opportunity to invest in research and receive creative and advance medical entrepreneurship in return."
These projects will have potential to make positive global impact to various aspects of health related to the body, mind, spirit, society, and the environment.