SPARK Norway is an innovation programme for researchers who work on health-related topics in the life science domain and want to further develop innovative ideas from their own research.
Researchers from UiO and affiliated research groups at Oslo University Hospital (OUS) and Akershus University Hospital (Ahus) can be included in the programme.
Five groups admitted in the pilot
- RACeR: Improvement of A Genetic Tool that Enhances Homology Dependent Gene Repair
Project leader: Adam Robertson, OUS
Team members: Caroline Køster, Deo Pandey, Terezia Prikrylova, Rune Forstrøm and Arne Klungland
Watch Robertson´s presentation at the SPARK Norway kick-off 13 February 2018 - Petomics: a commercial Norwegian microbiome service for performance animals and pets
Project leader: Pål Trosvik, UiO
Team member: Eric Jacques de Muinck - Influenza vaccine that can be rapidly produced to counter an emerging pandemic threat
Project leader: Gunnveig Grødeland, UiO
Team member: Bjarne Bogen
Watch Grødeland´s presentation at the main event of Oslo Life Science 2018 - Targeted pharmacological treatment of ventricular arrhythmias
Project leader: Magnus Aronsen, UiO
Team member: Jonas Skogestad
Watch Skogestad´s presentation at the SPARK Norway kick-off 13 February 2018 - Healthy soils for a healthy life
Project leader: Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi, UiO
Team members: The research group MORPHOPLEX
Watch Shalchian-Tabrizi´s presentation at the SPARK Norway kick-off 13 February 2018
The SPARK teams that are announced now were selected in the pilot project in October. They were picked from Inven2's portfolio.
Mentoring and more
Researchers who are admitted to the SPARK Norway programme receives mentoring, milestone-based funding, guidance and education. The aim of the programme is to get more innovation out of basic research.
Events from spring 2018
The official kick-off for SPARK Norway will be part the Oslo Life Science Conference in February. Then a larger audience will get to know the SPARKees and learn more about SPARK Norway.
In the spring of 2018 there will be both closed meetings for those involved in the SPARK Norway programme, and open events where anyone who wants to increase their knowledge and understanding of the path from idea to application may attend.
Close collaboration with other life science actors
SPARK Norway is based on the prestigious Stanford SPARK programme, and the other two European sites – SPARK Berlin and SPARK Finland – are closely involved when UiO:Life Science establishes the programme at UiO.
The group that will work with SPARK Norway, is led by UiO:Life Science with Morten Egeberg, administrative leader in charge. Representatives from UiO, Oslo University Hospital, Inven2, and several life science clusters and networks in the Oslo area are members of the group.