Tag Archives: marketing

RESI San Diego 2026 Program Guide Released 

16 Jun

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

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Life Science Nation (LSN) is pleased to release the RESI San Diego 2026 Program Guide for its upcoming hybrid conference, taking place June 22 in person at the JULEP Venue in San Diego, followed by four days of virtual partnering on June 23–24 and June 29–30. 

RESI San Diego brings together early-stage life science companies, active investors, strategic partners, and industry leaders during one of the most important weeks in biotechnology. The conference features the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge, investor panels, educational workshops, company showcases, and a dynamic partnering platform designed to facilitate meaningful fundraising and business development conversations. 

The Program Guide provides a comprehensive look at this year’s agenda, including sessions covering therapeutics, medtech, diagnostics, digital health, corporate venture capital, artificial intelligence in healthcare, strategic partnerships, and emerging investment trends. Attendees can also explore participating investors, sponsors, exhibitors, and networking opportunities available throughout the five-day partnering event. 

With partnering already underway and meeting calendars continuing to fill, RESI San Diego offers a unique opportunity for innovators to connect directly with the investors and strategic stakeholders shaping the future of healthcare. 

View the RESI San Diego 2026 Program Guide and secure your place today at RESI San Diego.

Register for RESI San Diego

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Meet RESI Gold Sponsor RSM: Supporting Life Science Companies Through Growth and Transformation 

16 Jun

By Caitlin Dolegowski, Program Director, LSN

As a Gold Sponsor of RESI San Diego 2026, RSM is committed to helping life science companies navigate the financial, operational, and strategic challenges that come with growth and innovation. In this interview, Keith DePhillips and Michael Romano share insights into today’s life science landscape, discuss the challenges emerging biotech and medtech companies are facing, and explain how RSM supports organizations as they prepare for fundraising, commercialization, and other critical milestones. They also highlight what their team is looking forward to most at RESI San Diego and the types of companies they hope to meet during the event.

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Don’t Miss Out: Discover Cutting-Edge Japanese Innovations at RESI San Diego 2026

9 Jun

By Claire Jeong, Chief Conference Officer, Vice President of Investor Research, Asia BD, LSN

With RESI San Diego 2026 just two weeks away, taking place on Monday, June 22, at JULEP Venue San Diego, we are excited to showcase a strong cohort of innovative life science companies and technologies from Japan.

As Title Sponsor of RESI San Diego 2026, Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC) is organizing 2 incredible afternoon sessions featuring promising innovations that are being developed in Japan. We welcome you all to join and learn more about what Japan’s life science ecosystem has to offer.

Space is limited, so we ask that you RSVP to confirm your attendance.

RSVP to Confirm Attendance

1:00 – 3:00pm | KBIC Session –– Japan Life Science Showcase ––

KBIC is Japan’s largest leading biomedical cluster, bringing together approximately 350 companies, medical institutions, and research organizations.

Within this ecosystem, many startups are actively advancing R&D activities and working diligently toward commercialization on a daily basis.

As part of this exciting network, KBIC will host pitches from eight startups that are particularly eager to engage with overseas investors and licensing partners, and that are well prepared for such international collaboration.

In addition, leading venture capital firms in Japan and the representative of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will speak about the current investment landscape as well as their perspectives on the future of the Japanese startup ecosystem.

ANT5 CellFold
FELIQS HIUCHI-Pharma
Juntendo-University Radio-Nano
United-Immunity VCCT

3:00 – 4:00pm | Kyoto-iCAP Session –– Translating Kyoto Science into Global Ventures ––

Kyoto University Innovation Capital Co., Ltd. (Kyoto-iCAP) and Kyoto University will introduce Kyoto’s growing biotech innovation ecosystem and showcase emerging life science ventures developing transformative technologies in regenerative medicine, cell therapy, nephrology, pain treatment and radiopharmaceuticals. The session is designed to foster connections between global investors, strategic partners, and leading Kyoto University-originated startups.

BTB Therapeutics CiRA
Orizuru-therapeutics Rege-Nephro
Shinobi_Therapeutics

Featured Interview: Dr. Narumiya, President of FBRI, shares his insights about Kobe and KBIC’s strengths and their role in strengthening the life science ecosystem in Japan.

Dr. Shuh Narumiya, President of Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Kobe (FBRI)

What is Kobe? What is KBIC?

Kobe is a port city and is now emerging as a key hub for startup creation and accumulation in Japan, particularly in bioscience and medicine. At the center of this ecosystem is the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (KBIC). In KBIC, you can meet institutes with Japan’s cutting-edge research, distinguished hospitals, research institutes of international Pharmas and start-ups, thus KBIC serving you as a “gateway to Japanese science and innovation”.

What science and innovation were and are being created in KBIC?

Science and innovation covered in KBIC span from drug discovery, regenerative medicine, digital health, and medical instruments and devices to bio-manufacturing. KBIC holds a distinctive position in regenerative medicine and cell therapy. It has, for example, nurtured and developed application of iPS cell research, leading to transplantation of iPSC-derived retinal cells in 2014, the world’s first clinical application, and the world’s first regulatory approval of iPSC-derived cells for a Parkinson’s disease treatment in 2026.

What are other advantages of KBIC?

Kobe is a part of Kansai region, an area of most distinguished life science research in Japan. Collaboration within the Kansai region is another strength of KBIC. Particularly, through partnerships with Kyoto University Innovation Capital (iCAP), KBIC supports the creation and growth of university spin-outs, combining Kyoto University’s research excellence with Kobe’s commercialization capabilities and vice versa.

What are the current state and issues of start-ups in Japan?

Today, Japan’s startup ecosystem—especially in the bio and life sciences sectors—is more vibrant than ever, producing a wealth of internationally competitive research and innovation seeds. However, these achievements are not yet fully recognized overseas, and many promising discoveries are still struggling for support to translate into commercial success. Bridging this gap is one of KBIC’s core roles.

Japan’s startups are now shifting from a domestically focused model to global expansion. In this transition, building international connections is critical. KBIC serves as a practical gateway for this purpose, offering integrated support from R&D to commercialization, fundraising, and global market entry.

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Discover the Innovators: 14 Pitch Sessions Showcasing Emerging Life Science Companies 

9 Jun

By Max Braht, VP of Business Development, LSN

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The Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) returns to RESI San Diego with an exciting lineup of 14 pitch sessions showcasing emerging companies from across the life science ecosystem. Finalists represent a broad range of innovation spanning Therapeutics, Medical Devices, Diagnostics, and Digital Health, highlighting the technologies shaping the future of healthcare.

These sessions provide RESI attendees with a unique opportunity to discover breakthrough technologies and engage directly with the entrepreneurs driving them forward. Each company will present in front of a panel of active investors and strategic partners, participate in live Q&A discussions, and receive valuable feedback from industry experts.

In addition to presenting during their assigned pitch session, all IPC finalists will showcase their companies in the RESI exhibition area through dedicated pitch posters. This format allows attendees to explore innovative technologies at their own pace, connect directly with company leadership, and schedule follow-up discussions with promising startups throughout the conference.

The Innovator’s Pitch Challenge culminates with the presentation of RESI Cash awards, recognizing standout companies from across the competition. Award recipients will also be featured in Life Science Nation’s Next Phase newsletter, providing additional visibility among the global RESI community.

More than a competition, the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge serves as a platform for fundraising companies to gain visibility, validate their value proposition, and build meaningful relationships with investors, strategic partners, and industry leaders from around the world.

See the full list of pitching companies below:

Apply to Pitch at RESI Boston

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Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Line 

9 Jun

By Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO, Life Science Nation (LSN)

DF-News-09142022

There is a line between deciding to pursue investors and partners and pursuing them. Most people believe they cross it the moment they decide. They don’t. Deciding is private. The line is the part the market can see, and the market only sees behavior. You can be completely certain you are committed and still be, as far as anyone outside your own head can tell, standing exactly where you were a year ago.

The market doesn’t care what you declare. It responds to what you do. What it reads is presence, whether you are in the room when it counts. There are moments when it counts more than others, when the people who fund and license and partner are not scattered across a thousand calendars but gathered in one place at one time, looking for their next opportunity. Those moments are real, and they are on the calendar. The wave forms whether you are ready or not. The only question it puts to you is whether you are in the water when it arrives.

Here is the part that surprises people. The companies that are serious about this do not try to be efficient about it. You would think the sophisticated move is to be selective, to take only the meetings that obviously matter and skip the rest. It isn’t, and there is a hard reason why. The meeting that changes your company does not announce itself going in. The lead investor is hidden inside a large number of conversations that look, beforehand, exactly like the ones that lead nowhere. The licensing partner is buried in a stack of introductions you cannot tell apart until you are sitting in them. You cannot reason your way to the one that counts and avoid the others. The only way to reach it is to go through the volume. So the serious company does not look for reasons to take fewer meetings. It looks for reasons to take more, because every additional relevant room is another draw from the deck the one card is hidden in. Most of the draws are blanks. That is not a flaw in the method. That is the method.

Activity guarantees nothing, and no one who has done this for long will tell you otherwise. What inactivity guarantees is the opposite. The company that is not in the room is not weighed, and ends up passed over. It is simply never seen, and the market does not hold a seat open for the company that didn’t show. It gives the seat to one that did. Which brings me to the week of June 22 in San Diego. That is a week the market gathers. The city fills with meetings, events, and venues all competing for the same hours, and RESI, on June 22, is built for exactly the thing I have been describing, a room assembled out of investors, licensing teams, and business development people who came specifically to find companies like yours.

Some of you reading this are already going to be there. You have a reason to be in San Diego that week, and you still have not decided to be in this particular room. Sit with that for a second. You will be in the same city, on the same days, with the market gathered a few miles away, and you are on the fence about walking in. There is a word for standing that close to the water, dressed to swim, watching the set roll past. The word is not caution. It is hesitation, and from the outside the market cannot tell the difference between a company that hesitated and a company that was never there.

The line we started with is not crossed by deciding you are ready. It is crossed in the open, by being where the market is while the market is there. If you believe you are ready, the week of June 22 is where that belief becomes visible or doesn’t. Register for RESI San Diego, June 22.

Don’t underestimate the importance of the line.

Register for RESI San Diego

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RESI Innovator’s Pitch Challenge Winner Amets Biotechnology on Advancing Gene Therapies for Rare Diseases 

2 Jun

By Caitlin Dolegowski, Program Director, LSN

In this interview, Nicholas Weber of Amets Biotechnology discusses the company’s work advancing gene therapies for rare pediatric diseases, including PFIC2, and shares insight into the future of rare disease innovation. Amets Biotechnology was recognized at RESI Europe as an Innovator’s Pitch Challenge winner for its promising next-generation gene therapy approach. 

Apply to Pitch at RESI Boston

 

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Innovator’s Pitch Challenge: Where Deals Start

19 May

By Max Braht, VP of Business Development, LSN

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At most conferences, startup pitch competitions are treated as side programming. Founders present a deck, judges select winners, applause follows, and the event moves on.

At RESI San Diego, the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge (IPC) is designed differently.

The IPC is not simply about winning a competition. It is designed to help early-stage life science companies generate investor attention, create business development momentum, and accelerate conversations that continue long after the presentation ends.

For many companies, that interaction becomes the most valuable part of the experience.

“The discussions also felt far more relationship-driven than transactional,” said Sian Farrell, CEO of StimOxyGen. “Conversations extended beyond the pitch itself and focused on clinical strategy, regulatory pathways, commercialization, and long-term value creation.”

Unlike standalone pitch competitions, the IPC is integrated directly into the larger RESI partnering ecosystem. Participating companies also receive partnering access, poster presentation visibility, and exposure throughout the conference environment, creating multiple opportunities for follow-up interaction.

“The combination of the presentation and the partnering platform made a significant difference,” said Bram de Moor, CEO of You2Yourself. “RESI brought us into direct contact with European and transatlantic life science investors who specifically seek early-stage diagnostic and biomarker companies — an audience difficult to reach through cold outreach.”

The IPC also introduces an interactive audience component through “RESI cash,” distributed to attendees during registration. Participants allocate their RESI cash to the companies they believe demonstrate the strongest potential, creating additional visibility and engagement throughout the event.

For founders navigating today’s capital environment, opportunities that combine exposure with concentrated investor access are increasingly valuable.

As fundraising conditions continue to demand stronger differentiation and clearer commercialization pathways, platforms that help companies sharpen messaging and generate high-quality investor interaction have become increasingly important.

At RESI, the IPC is intended to serve exactly that purpose.

Selected companies receive:

  • Two 5-day RESI registrations
  • A six-minute company presentation followed by seven minutes of investor Q&A
  • Poster presentation space
  • Full partnering access
  • Exposure to investors, strategic partners, and pharma business development teams throughout Convention Week

For many founders, the IPC becomes more than a presentation opportunity. It becomes the place where investor conversations begin, strategic relationships form, and fundraising momentum accelerates.

Applications for the Innovator’s Pitch Challenge at RESI San Diego are currently open, with limited presentation slots remaining.

Apply to Pitch at RESI San Diego

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