Innovation

Leaps by Bayer is spearheading a movement to make paradigm-shifting advances in the Life Sciences – targeting the breakthroughs that could fundamentally change the world for the better. Across health care and agriculture, Leaps by Bayer is aiming to conquer ten huge challenges facing humanity.

The scale of this mission requires an entirely new approach that goes beyond the conventional limits of the health care and agriculture industries. It requires enormous investment, risk and collaboration. As such, we are investing heavily in a few key areas, collaborating with the world’s smartest minds in biotech, and are actively helping to build up young biotech companies.

Bayer AG and Versant Ventures announced the launch of BlueRock Therapeutics, a next-generation regenerative medicine company developing best-in-class induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) therapies with the objective of treating a range of diseases using an industry-leading platform. Bayer and Versant jointly committed $225 million US, representing one of the largest-ever series A financings for a biotech company.

In Canada, BlueRock is focused on regenerating heart muscle for patients who have had a heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI) or suffering from chronic heart failure.

Bayer on Campus (BoC) is an initiative that aims to increase awareness of the breadth of Bayer’s innovation. It also serves to identify and foster opportunities for research collaborations with scientific and community stakeholders, and presents Bayer as a preferred choice for prospective employees by emphasizing the unique workplace culture and career opportunities.

Bayer representatives visit campuses across Canada to give presentations about Bayer and to host one-on-one meetings with researchers. In the program’s first year, Bayer Canada led the pilot phase for the campus tours, with visits to University of Manitoba, McGill University, Queens University, Olds College and the University of Calgary. Overall, a total of nine presentations were delivered to five campuses.

With very positive feedback from campus hosts, audience members and BoC participants, the initiative continues with more school visits planned.