CEE-ing is believing: Bioscience ventures in Central and Eastern Europe

Bioscience ventures in Central and Eastern Europe are becoming a presence in world healthcare markets despite a perennially short supply of venture funding and other support mechanisms relative to other world economic regions. Here are three up-and-coming CEE stories worth keeping an eye on.Innovations in bioscience happen every day all over the world—in laboratories, on university campuses, in rich and poor nations alike—coming to life somewhere in the minds of inspired scientists who think they just might have a breakthrough solution to some daunting healthcare problem. The vast majority of these innovations, unfortunately, never make it to commercial markets, where they could be applied to solve actual medical challenges. This is true for a variety of reasons: intellectual property stuck in the recesses of academia; lack of practical know-how in running a business on the part of the innovators; but perhaps most of all because of the absence, in most parts of the world, of a supporting ecosystem of institutions and individuals that encourage and invest in highly risky early stage opportunities. There are very few localities that can replicate the intellectual know-how and financial resources on tap in places like Silicon Valley, and for all that the world economy has globalized over the last twenty years, venture capital is still very much a local backyard business.That being said, there are stories out there demonstrating that you don''t have to live in Palo Alto and sign a major venture capital backer to bring a worthwhile idea into fruition, establish a solid commercial value proposition and position yourself on a potentially robust growth trajectory. This article is about three such stories. The common thread between them is that they all took root in Central and Eastern Europe. This is a region with a relatively short history of modern free market economics and plenty of bumps in the road since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 but at the same time one that retains a longstanding tradition of commitment to research and scientific excellence. Now the knowledge and expertise resident in what was once the bleak landscape stuck behind the Iron Curtain has the potential to help solve important healthcare challenges the world over. The founders of these three companies—an eclectic group of individuals from different backgrounds who perceived opportunities and accepted the daunting risks involved in choosing to pursue them—have brought themselves into a position where they may yet reap significant rewards for their labors.