Bayer G4A Partnerships 2020: an interview with Dr. Javier Garcia Palacios

The Bayer G4A Partnerships Program is back.

We have met and interviewed Dr. Javier Garcia Palacios, Vice President, Head of Integrated Care Ventures, who introduced to us the Bayer 2020 G4A Partnerships program.

Dr. Javier Garcia Palacios, Vice President, Head of Integrated Care Ventures

He is a chemical engineer by education. After his PhD at the Max Planck Institute (Germany), he dedicated the first 7 years of his professional life to the chemical industry at companies such as BASF, and Covestro. After several positions in R&D with focus on high-risk initiatives, he joined the marketing team to develop new businesses for high performance materials in the electronic segment. As part of this role, he elaborated a proposal to transform the existing wound care materials into a new application field, wearables. This brought him closer to the field of health and awoke his passion for healthcare as an industry. It was then, in 2015, when he decided to join Bayer to drive the digitalization efforts, leading Bayer’s Digital Health Incubator. In 2017 and under the umbrella brand of #G4A, they brought in many talented individuals with one ambition – to “change the experience of health” – and they became instrumental to Bayer’s digital transformation across Bayer’s health businesses.
In late 2019, the G4A department moved as part of the Integrated Care department at Bayer’s Pharmaceutical division. At Integrated Care, they focus on creating new businesses that address patient’s unmet needs in a holistic manner, accounting for the complex and multimorbid nature of health conditions. They provide systemic solutions that improve people’s life by reducing current inefficiencies in the healthcare system and by improving the overall experience of health and care.

What’s new for this year’s program?

So far, our current events with COVID-19 have shaken the world’s health systems and will, undoubtedly, continue to do so over the next months.

We strongly believe that integrated digital health solutions are the key to shaping the experience of health in the near future as well as in the long run.

With an ongoing global pandemic, we are thinking ahead and more sustainably, asking ourselves: What comes next? How can we support and advance our health systems, use our resources efficiently and strengthen the most vulnerable populations against the existent and emerging health challenges?
Our goal is to develop and advance integrated solutions in health that help people to treat, monitor, or, better yet, prevent certain chronic conditions ranging from metabolic disorders, cardiovascular, and oncological diseases which make them prone to today’s and tomorrow’s health risks.

This year, we are focusing our two partnership tracks (Growth and Advance) with new challenges to identify innovative digital health solutions for integrated care. Our four new focus areas this year include: Cardiometabolic and Renal Diseases, Oncology, Women’s Health, and Pharmacovigilance.

Each of these focus areas consists of meticulously selected challenges which we have identified as essential for G4A and Integrated Care to build a more sustainable healthcare future, and support individuals to live longer, happier, and healthier lives.

What are the benefits for the companies that will apply for the program?

Bayer G4A has grown to be a thought-leader in health innovation, and also a strong partner for entrepreneurs and startups in digital health. Our prospective partners in 2020 will benefit from Bayer’s expertise and long-term experience, our global presence, networks and business acumen to scale their business and provide valuable solutions in healthcare.

The companies joining our Advance Track will be working jointly with our experts to drive a commercial partnership with Bayer, whether that may be in the form of joint ventures, co-creation, or investments.
The companies selected for our Growth Track will be granted executive mentorship, €75,000 in funding, and a co-working space at our Berlin headquarters.

Can you share a few successful stories of start-ups that took part in the program from the past editions?

In the past, G4A has had a global cohort of early and late stage digital companies to partner with Bayer across a range of topics.
One example is of Sidekick Health which has gamified clinically validated digital programs to improve health outcomes. The Bayer cardiovascular team and Sidekick health have partnered together to provide a lifestyle change program to patients in Sweden suffering from Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD).
Another example is of Blackford Analysis which is a curated platform of regulatory-approved medical image analysis apps and AI algorithms that add clinical value. They have signed collaboration with Bayer’s Radiology team to help build a customized data enrichment algorithm. In addition, our new product commercialization and women’s health teams have worked with Quid to get valuable market insights using AI.

Do you have any advice for the start-ups that have applied or will apply to the 2020 G4A Partnerships program?

This year, G4A has worked hard to narrow down their strategic areas to ensure a strong alignment with our business ambition, which in turn would corroborate that the selected companies and our Integrated Care Ventures teams share a strategic fit and a common goal to work towards building innovative digital health solutions together.

We also look closely at the traction of the company solution in the market, whether there may be published validation findings or patents, number of clients, funding, and even revenue.
Here at G4A, we also know how important a team can be to grow a successful business, so we do look at team setup and expertise.
Also, there may be startups who have applied before who were not specifically chosen in the past, however, we are always interested to see how these companies have developed over time and where their projects stand now, so please feel free to apply even if you were not chosen in the previous year.

If you have any questions, please refer to the FAQs on our website or connect with us through our social media channels. Don’t forget, our application deadline is on June 30^th this year.

For more information, please visit www.G4A.health or follow them on LinkedIn Facebook and Twitter