Science Exchange has formed a partnership with QB3, the University of California hub for life sciences startups, offering its R&D service marketplace with more than 2,500 providers.
The new deal allows QB3-affiliated companies to order R&D services through Science Exchange’s provider network. The whole process from quotation, procurement to payment can be carried out on the platform. Instead of leaving the startups to navigate the network by themselves for potential service providers, Science Exchange will also support QB3’s companies in identifying the best providers for their particular demands and ordering complex R&D services.
“While QB3’s companies focus on discovery, we can help eliminate the barriers, including the time and expertise needed to research and qualify contract research organizations (CROs) and scientific service providers,” Science Exchange’s co-founder and CEO, Elizabeth Iorns, Ph.D., said in a statement. “We also help save time and money in contract negotiation, all while ensuring the protection of intellectual property.”
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Founded in 2000 by Gov. Gray Davis as an innovation hub focused on life sciences, or quantitative biosciences to be specific, and as a University of California institute, the startup incubator began at the UC campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
“Many of our startups don’t have the resources to purchase their own capital equipment or do the necessary specialized scientific research in-house,” said Ioana Aanei, Ph.D., entrepreneurship program manager at QB3, in a statement.
The hub now has five facilities in the Bay Area where entrepreneurs can rent lab and office spaces with different amenities. For a fee of $350, or $250 for UC students, alumni or faculty, QB3 offers company launch support in a package, including legal and business support, workshop on how to file for federal Small Business Innovation Research fund, freedom to operate analysis in IP space, and advice from experienced professionals.
This marks the second deal Science Exchange has signed with a life sciences startup accelerator in just about three months, following a similar one with IndieBio in July. And the total number of enterprise clients and such incubators using its platform has exceeded 30, according to the company.