Needs of Global Start-up companies (Deliverable 2) GlobalStart wp1 Studies Deliverable 2 Needs of Global Start-up Companies Table of contents p
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- Intervew date 22/12/2004, 23/12/2004 Interviewees
- 1. Profile and background
- 2. Mapping of the major milestones of the company Pre-venture phase
References: Company’s homepage, Newspaper “Postimees”, [http://www.hightechestonia.com/2554] 1. Profile and background Established in 1999, Müomeetria is the leader in commercialisation of medical devices for testing human muscle tone parameters. Currently, the company finished developing a prototype and is going to start production. The product (Myoton) was developed as a result of over thirty years of research by Dr. Arved Vain and the research team he is leading at the University of Tartu, Estonia. Arved Vain is a senior research associate at the Institute of Experimental Physics and Technology, University of Tartu and Head of the Supervisory Board of Müomeetria. Since 1974 he has supervised more than 12 research projects on the Biomechanics of Skeletal Muscles and on different fields of Medicine and Sport Training. Numerous cooperation projects during the 1970-1986 with USSR Universities enabled dr Vain to continue the research and to improve the characteristics of the product. During the 1990’s Dr. Vain cooperated with Universities’ clinics in Finland, where the product was tested and it was here that the first links to foreign customers occurred. Dr. Vain has written over 200 publications on Biomechanics of Skeletal Muscles and on Movement Analysis in different kinds of sport. In 1970 he defended his PhD Thesis at the University of Tartu and thesis on Biomechanical model of the Skeletal muscle Dr. Habil. Biol. 1994 in Riga. The technology originates from the University of Tartu where Dr. Vain founded a research group in the early 80s. Myoton technology has been a subject of numerous doctoral dissertations, as well as master and bachelor theses. The ongoing cooperation was concentrated on clinical trials and research on scientific advances of Moyton. The technology has been applied in research institutions and clinics to improve diagnosis accuracy, to determine the efficient treatment of injuries and diseases. It has been also applied in sports medicine to enhance the performance of athletes and in ergonomics for early discovery cumulative trauma disorders in occupational health and design of workplaces. The device has been proved to be useful in many scientific and clinical studies, many of which have yet to be launched. The technology has made a big leap, promising future scientific discoveries in numerous areas and enhanced performance and pain relief for many people. For the time being, the company has no competitors. The difficulty is that the target customer is largely unaware of the product. The strategy of the company is to continue market research (introducing the product to European medical institutions) and to prepare the company and the product for entering the European market. Since the establishment, there were three generations of prototypes, and in November 2004 the first product, Myoton 3, was launched. Myoton is the first diagnostic device for measuring the elasticity of live biological tissue without causing any changes or damage to the tissue. With a Myoton, it is possible to measure each separate muscle, different regions of the same muscle, as well as tendon and other soft tissues. The feature composition of the product is different compared to the previous prototypes, leading to a reduced cost. The company’s target customers were the scientists using the prototypes. During the last year, the marketing/sales organization was established, aiming at acquiring new customers, establish a solid customer base, and further developing relationships with existing ones, by selling them the existing product and improving the general service level on offer. Another task of that organization is to build the distribution network for their offerings; here the focus will be in increasing awareness of the product. One way of doing this is to involve about ten opinion leaders in the industry to communicate the product with all its benefits. Myoton was developed with financial support from Enterprise Estonia (EE), a state agency directing governmental funds to innovative hi-tech projects. Also, current export activities are supported and endorsed by Enterprise Estonia. Tartu University was involved in funding the company as well, but to a lesser extent compared to EE. The current turnover for 2004 amounts for approximately 5 million EEK8. When the company was established there was three people employed. Currently, there are approximately twenty people working, both full-time and contractual employees. In the near future, Myoton wishes to recruit employees with strong marketing and sales competence, and solid product and market knowledge. This person/persons will also conduct market research in order to have better understanding of customer needs, which well facilitate in the further product development and clarify customer segments. Currently, the company possesses 9 patents: 1 in US, 7 in Europe and 1 in Japan. The technical development was outsourced to the Tallin based company Oscando in 2004. Previously, Humal Elektronika had taken care of this. In 2005 the company is going to put its product (Myoton) on a production line. Before this production, the company’s main activities were research and development, testing of prototype, improving the product and communication with potential clients. The University premises were used before the foundation of a company to develop a product and to consult on patenting (Patenting Office), business issues (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration), and application of scientific ideas (Science development Board). Myomeetria did not use the premises of incubator, but they used the University’s network to collect information on financing opportunities, cooperation partners, IPR, economic issues and etc. The main research is done at the University (Faculty of Physics and Chemistry labs), the technological support and product design are outsourced from Estonian companies. Compared to the original business plan, the present activity of a company is only slightly different. The company develops the same product as initially planned, however it was expected that first product’s introduction to the market would be more successful and it would be easier to find an investor. The focus of the target group has changed. According to the business plan, the target group was rather wide, however later it was decided to focus on ergonomics and occupational health as a major application field for Myoton. The plans for the future are to launch production of a product and invest in marketing (Holland and Finland at first, probably US later).
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