From Algae to Eye Implants: Two Recent UNICO Projects
One project started in a collection of algae in Třeboň. The other ends up in the human eye. On paper, they have nothing in common. In practice, both clients came to us with the same question: how do we turn what we have into something the market will use, without losing what makes it valuable?
Here is how we answered it for a public research collection and for a medtech company getting ready for CE marking.
CCALA: opening a public collection to industry
The Culture Collection of Autotrophic Organisms (CCALA) at the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences
extensive collection of algal and cyanobacterial strains. It supplies cultures to universities, research institutes and companies worldwide and serves as a recognised depository for patent deposits.llenge. Industrial interest in algae and cyanobacteria is growing. CCALA wanted to open its collection to commercial users in a structured way, keep access simple for researchers and honour its obligations under the Nagoya Protocol. The open questions: how to price cultures and commercial rights, which contracts to use, and how to guide users from research to commercial application.
What we did. We benchmarked thirteen leading culture collections across Europe, North America and Australia, comparing their price lists, material transfer agreements (MTAs), licensing terms and approaches to access and benefit-sharing. We then interviewed heads and curators of seven of them to learn what users actually pay for, which licence structures companies accept and which services generate value.
The result. A practical framework built for a public research mission: a standard MTA for research users, a separate licence for commercial use, guiding principles for pricing cultures and commercial rights, and a classification of strains by commercial availability. CCALA now has a ready basis for drafting contracts, updating its price list and expanding its services for industry.
“Thanks to the benchmark and the conversations with peer collections, we now have a clear and practical framework for working with industrial partners – one that keeps our collection open to science and fully respects our international obligations.” — Josef Juráň, Institute of Botany CAS
VaMa Medical Innovations: from prototype to the operating room
VaMa Medical Innovations is a Croatian medtech company developing an artificial intraocular lens capsule: a flexible implant fixed to the sclera that recreates the natural capsular bag in eyes without adequate support. Surgeons can place a standard intraocular lens inside it and exchange it later. VaMa also develops software that helps surgeons plan the fixation points.
The challenge. With CE marking under the Medical Device Regulation in preparation, VaMa needed first-hand evidence of how surgeons and the market would receive the device, to shape its business model and go-to-market approach. It also needed a clear IP strategy covering both the implant and the software, from patents to know-how.
What we did. We worked on two fronts. For the business validation, we interviewed ophthalmic surgeons at leading university hospitals and distributors in Czechia and Poland, and mapped competing techniques, reimbursement and procurement. For the IP strategy, we analysed the patent landscape and freedom to operate for both technologies, reviewed geographic filing, trademarks and data protection, and designed an internal IP management framework including a trade secret policy.
The result. A clear picture of who the first users are, which arguments resonate with surgeons and how a new implant reaches patients in Central Europe, plus a phased go-to-market roadmap. On the IP side, a filing and portfolio strategy, targeted design and claim recommendations, and a ready-to-adopt IP and trade secret policy: a solid basis for CE marking, clinical studies and investor talks.
“UNICO helped us test our assumptions directly with the surgeons we want to work with and turned their feedback into a concrete go-to-market plan.” — Goran Marić, VaMa Medical Innovations
What the two projects have in common
Different fields, different clients, the same three lessons.
Ask the people who already know. CCALA learned most from curators running peer collections. VaMa learned most from the surgeons who would use its implant. Desk research sets the map; conversations show where the roads actually go.
Commercial and IP questions belong together. For CCALA, pricing only made sense alongside the right contracts and the Nagoya Protocol. For VaMa, the go-to-market plan and the IP strategy shaped each other. Answering one without the other leaves half the decision open.
The output has to be usable on Monday. A standard MTA, a licence template, a price-setting logic, a phased roadmap, a ready-to-adopt IP policy. Neither client needed another report for the drawer. They needed a basis for the next decision.
Facing a similar question?
Whether you run a research collection, a technology transfer office or a company preparing a product for market, we can help you find out what the market will pay for, and how to protect it on the way there.
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