A total of eight innovation projects and start-up companies participated in the competition. Each participant was given five minutes to pitch their business idea. The audience saw innovative examples of new diagnostic methods and treatments for cancer and fibrotic diseases, a product against dry mouth, new solutions in precision medicine, a personal health care tool and organ-on-a-chip technology. Moderator Morten Egeberg, Leader of UiO:Life Science' innovation programme SPARK Norway, said that he was impressed by the level among the participants.
A jury consisting of the CEO of Bayer Norway, Jan Børge Jakobsen, Pål Hasvold, Medical Evidence Head at AstraZeneca and general manager of Novo Nordisk Norway, Andre Bregård, assessed which of the projects were the most innovative. The jury, who were also industry partners at the conference, presented prizes in the form of mentoring sessions.
Tribune Therapeutics won a two-hour mentoring session with AstraZeneca. While Kongsberg Beam Technology by Stephan Dymling and Esmaeil Dorraji with the SPARK Norway project "p95HER2-CAR T cell targeting metastatic breast cancer on-Target, but no off-Tumor" each received an hour mentoring session with Novo Nordisk and Bayer respectively.