Friso Smit studied pharmaceutical sciences and received his PhD in the field of natural products for drug development. In 2000 he joined (Danone) Nutricia Research to work on specialized nutrition with clinically substantiated health benefits and became R&D director for collaborative innovation in 2011. He joined Utrecht Science Park foundation in 2013 as ecosystem manager and in 2022 University Medical Center Utrecht as senior business developer. From 2022 - 2023 he was also chairman of the board of the Utrecht Center for Affordable Biotherapeutics. He is co-initiator of several National Growth Fund applications including Oncode Accelerator and since 2022 co-founder and board member of Oncode Accelerator foundation.

Oncode Accelerator

Oncode Accelerator is a public-private program which aims to innovate and accelerate the development of new cancer therapies by placing cancer patients at the core of preclinical therapy development.

We realize this through the power of three innovation platforms: Patient Cohorts, Organoids and Artificial Intelligence.

Over 30 partners leverage the full potential of the Dutch innovation ecosystem by building development pipelines for four of the most common types of cancer therapies: Small Molecules, Biologics, Cell and Gene Therapies, and Therapeutic Vaccines.

Our world-class toolbox of state-of-the-art technologies will result in more effective, personalized cancer therapies. This will bring us closer to our overarching vision: outsmarting cancer, impacting lives.

At Innovation for Health, we will announce the opening of our first call and are actively looking for partners in biotech and pharma that can bring lead candidates into our pre-clinical program.