Bayer’s CoLaborator-approach to Support Start-up Companies

The goal of Bayer’s CoLaborator-approach is to support start-ups in establishing their research labs, with academic researchers spinning out new firms and venture capital groups being the likely sources of these companies.

Bayer HealthCare will open a 550 square meter shared lab for start-up life science companies whose technology platforms, drug targets or drug candidates align with Bayer’s portfolio. The CoLaborator is expected to house three to four small companies. Bayer plans to launch the CoLaborator by late summer 2012.

Demand for start-up lab space to support academic researchers and their teams of post-doctoral and graduate students remains high in California. According to the most recent industry report from BayBio and the California Healthcare Institute, researchers at the University of California (UC) produce, on average, four new inventions a day, and UC develops more patents than any other university in the U.S.. This high level of research productivity has resulted in 461 start-ups since 1976 according to the California Biomedical Industry 2011 Report.