TWB START-UP DAY

Created and organised by TWB since 2018, TWB START-UP DAY aims to bring together in the field of industrial biotechnologies: start-uppers working for an eco-responsible industry and wishing expand their business activity, investors and industrials looking for innovative solutions and all the international stakeholders in this field.

The event takes place every year in the first half of February. TWB START-UP DAY which takes place in English, includes conferences, numerous testimonials, exchange and networking times and two contestw for start-uppers and entrepreneurs. During the 4^th edition of TWB START-UP DAY which took place in digital and live in February 2021, nearly 230 professionals – including 60 start-uppers – representing 15 different countries gathered together.
Nearly 200 experts in the field of industrial biotechnologies were gathered at the 3^rd edition in February 2020 in Toulouse.

Distinguished speakers

Among many renowned speakers, Didier Miraton; currently President of the consulting firm La Combe, lecturer at the Collège des Ingénieurs and former Managing Director of both the Michelin Group and Pierre Fabre Laboratories; Sarah Reisinger, Senior Vice President Research Operations of Firmenich, a leader in the perfumery and flavours industry ; Randy Rettberg, President of the Igem Foundation (MIT) ; Sean Simpson,
Co founder and Scientific Director of Lanzatech ; Albert Meige, founder and President of Presans, Academic Director at HEC Paris ; Joel Cherry, R&D President of the American start-up Amyris, a pioneer in the field of synthetic biology.

Two unique contests

The event also hosts two competitions where candidates compete in front of experts from the investment and innovation sector:

since 2018: “Fast track it!”, dedicated to start-ups of 8 years old or less who are developing their technologies, offers the chance to win a prize comprising a dedicated access to TWB technical platforms valued. Since the 4^th edition in 2021, the contest partner: IAR cluster, has also been offering communication opportunities. This prize was won by Dust BioSolutions (Germany) in 2018, Tempeasy (Great Britain) in 2019, Octarine (Denmark) in 2020 and ZYMVOL (Spain) in 2021.
since 2021: “Go for it!”, dedicated to entrepreneurs who are at the final stage of the ideation, offers the chance to win 4 days of mentoring provided by TWB and its ecosystem and by the contest partners, French Tech Toulouse and ShakeUp Factory. The FluoSphera (Switzerland) project won the contest in 2021.