The Academic Enterprise Awards are the only pan-European awards for enterprise in university and public research institutes. The ACES give public recognition to those researchers, engineers, professors, students and government officials in Europe who have done the most to foster a culture of enterprise on campus.
A selection committee consisting of industry executives, academics and venture capitalists selected 2 finalists per category. The final winner will be announced at a 2-day event in Brussels on 3 and 4 June 2013. Here the finalists will be invited to make his/her 3-minute elevator pitch in a plenary session, in front of a high-level jury, that will then select the winner in each category.
With support from BTO BerGenBio AS was established in 2008 based on excellent research conducted at the University of Bergen. It is now a world class biotech company and has achieved a leadership status in the area of drug resistant and metastatic cancers. The company specifically focuses on developing novel therapeutics for metastatic and drug resistant cancers by targeting the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in cancer cells. The EMT is a process in which epithelial cells undergo multiple phenotypic changes that enhance their migratory capacity, invasiveness and resistance to apoptosis.