The essence of the MUG Incubator is to provide support for the implementation of R&D and pre-implementation work, aimed at increasing the market potential of ongoing research towards the future implementation of research results. Projects submitted as part of the call for proposals in the MUG Incubator activity are subject to detailed substantive evaluation for the selection of projects recommended for funding. In order to do so, members of the Investment Committee analyze project assumptions in detail, and interview project managers. The projects that have business potential and an identified prospect of future implementation into the economy have chances to obtain funding. In order to ensure a fair and objective project evaluation, the Committee is composed of independent experts with extensive knowledge and extensive experience in business, especially in the execution of projects aimed at implementation.

Members of the Investment Committee

Aleksander Kłósek – managing partner at the YouNick Mint fund; active in the area of identification, structuring and supervision (up to exit) of early-stage companies, particularly in the medical technology and Industry 4.0 sectors. He has more than 15 years of managerial experience – in sales management in pharmaceutical companies, as well as managing capital investments. Between 2018 and 2023, he and his team managed 28 capital investments ranging from 0.6 to 11 million PLN. In 2020, he led an exit transaction (sale of 100% of shares) of SmartPharma on behalf of the fund, wherein the acquirer was a multinational pharmaceutical company with an annual turnover of ~2 billion USD. He works with entrepreneurs creating technology companies, as well as founders of academic origin, whose goal is to transfer their scientific achievements to the business world. Focused on building the value of companies from the perspective of investors and customers. Holds a diploma in psychology (UAM Poznań) and MBA (Leeds Business University School). Privately, he is a passionate traveler and holder of a Large Family Card.

Katarzyna Michalak-Magda – manager of innovation projects and commercialization process, business analyst. Lawyer and a specialist in international relations. She completed postgraduate studies and a number of courses in project management, finance and business analysis. Her management experience was gathered while working in the IT, energy and real estate industries. She has obtained financing for more than a dozen projects funded by various EU operational programs and funds to support the development of innovation. Until December 2017, she led a team of specialists creating conditions for the widespread use of the Treg method in the control of type 1 diabetes. Under her leadership, PolTREG has obtained grant funding (including NCBiR, PARP, Horizon 2020) and funding from seed and VC investment funds, among others. Afterwards, she was the Head of the Biotechnology Development Program at the Polish Development Fund (PFR) until May 2019. She was responsible for the Innovation and Strategy Department at the Medical Research Agency (ABM). She currently works with companies implementing organizational and process changes, as well as innovative start-ups. Together with Alliance For Innovation, she creates conditions for the development and expansion of Polish companies in the field of medical innovation in the US market, among other things. As of September 2020, she is a member of the Supervisory Board of ENZYBIOTX, with its team working to commercialize the use of enzymes to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Since 2022, she has been supporting companies on the path of reorganization and implementation of process changes, acting, e.g., as a business analyst for implementations of ERPspace, a low-code ERP system. Expert in the evaluation of projects financed from the regional operational programs of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, and member of the investment committee of the Innovation Incubator 4.0 project, implemented jointly by the Medical University of Gdansk and the University of Gdansk. She is active in the “BISER Association – Baltic Institute for European and Regional Affairs”, aimed at integration of medical communities in the Baltic Sea Region.

Waldemar Wiśniewski – an expert in the field of management and coordination of innovation projects, mainly in the MedTech and BioTech sectors, also having knowledge concerning other industries (plastic processing products, IT and others). He specializes in innovation assessment, R&D project execution strategy, building innovation management strategy and business building strategy, development of material and financial schedules, pre-implementation readiness assessment, intellectual property law, commercialization, and in the case of the MedTech sector, he additionally supports the issue of MDR/IVDR regulatory readiness assessment and ISO 13485 Quality Management Systems. Expert application evaluator at the Medical Research Agency (ABM). As a part of his business activities, he also offers support, e.g., in the development of market analysis, project management, operational management, adoption of project financing strategies, consulting and training in the approach to medical device design. He has been involved with the Polish national E(x)plory competition for several years. A juror evaluating startups in the editions 14th and 15th of the nationwide MEDmeetsTECH conference. For the past two years, he has been a member of the investment committee for the evaluation of innovative projects conduced by researchers at the Medical University of Gdansk. Member of the socio-economic council at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology.

Photo: private archive