Widecells Group PLC (LON:WDC) Chief Executive Officer João Andrade and Vice President of WideAcademy Alan Greenberg caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss WideAcademy, what it is trying to achieve & why, its path to commercialisation and what to expect in the next 6-18 months
Q1: João, can you give us a brief overview of both Widecells and WideAcademy and their relationship with each other?
A1: So, Widecells Group, we are a worldwide provider of stem cells services and, as covered in previous interviews, we have established three business divisions:
One of them is CellPlan where we have developed the world’s first stem cell insurance plan to cover the cost associated with stem cell treatment and this is for families that have banked their baby’s umbilical cord blood to protect them against future illness.
We also have Widecells division where we have a stem cell processing and storage facility where we can store stem cells for families. We have also a research arm where we are involved in cutting-edge research but mainly via contract researching the development projects.
In terms of WideAcademy, this is a project we have brought ahead of schedule, initially we were planning to launch WideAcademy in 2018. WideAcademy is very relevant to Widecells but also to the whole stem cell industry because there is an assumption that there’s a lack of information on stem cell technology by medical professionals, by clients and even people involved in the life sciences community. WideAcademy needs to become the leader in stem cell technology and provide accurate scientific and medical information to primarily medical professionals but then to potential client. This is so we can empower them with the right information so that they can make then the informed decision and have more medical options.
Q2: Why do you think there’s a need for WideAcademy in the market?
A2: It’s exactly for that because we see the market today when talking to medical professionals, there’s still, we believe, a lack of information on the treatments that are available globally. Where these treatments are performed, who are the medical teams, how much these treatments can cost, how patients can benefit from these new technologies but also who is driving the next generation of stem cell technology and what we can expect to happen in the following years.
For that reason, we have this very big challenge of bringing this information together and have it ready to access so if a medical professional wants to know more about stem cells or a particular type of disease or an obstetrician that has expecting parents asking him the question, whether they should or should not store their baby’s umbilical cord blood. So, WideAcademy aims to answer these questions but also open up for other possibilities within the industry for the future.
It’s very interesting, in a world where you’ve got issues with Uber currently and other technology companies and disruption, I think the words ‘trust’ and ‘authenticity’ becomes increasingly more relevant and more important to consumers and to everybody. The principals that we built WideAcademy is built on literally those principals of trust and authenticity, providing the medical world with trusted, relevant content that helps them disseminate and helps them find the information they need quickly and efficiently. Equally, the public, the public need to have a place to go which is different from maybe going to Wikipedia or from some of the other medical portals that can become the trusted and relevant place for this information, that they can come to access easily and intuitively and make it available to them.
Q3: Now, Alan, you joined the company in February this year, can you explain a little about WideAcademy’s mantra, what it is trying to achieve and why?
A3: I think it’s very important to understand the inspiration of our Chief Executive, I met João, I was inspired by him, we had a number of conversations and it became apparent very quickly that this was a friendship and a collaboration. He presented me with a challenge which my experience has some relevance to having grown podcasting at Apple and other initiatives I did at Apple and other companies. It became a challenge which I really wanted to take on and then the ability to go and build something supported by the Board, supported by the company generally which we’ll bring to life over the coming weeks and months and we’ll launch officially in Q1 2018.
It was really that ability to inform the market, to bring to the market those opportunities and let me give you one anecdote which I think is quite interesting to your audience, when this project started we had a vision, about 6 or 8 weeks WebMD got sold in the US for some $2.8 billion. We believe we have something which in many ways is smarter than WebMD, it’s narrower but it’s smarter and the market has proven the fact that bringing medical information to the parties that need it has enormous value, both in terms of consumption and in terms of the market itself.
Q4: About a month ago Alan, you set up the strategic plans of WideAcademy will do, today’s announcement explains how you’re going to achieve it. We know you’ve got great experience in leading projects like this from your time with Apple but can you embellish WideAcademy’s path to commercialisation?
A4: I can, I’m hesitating only because there are things that I’d like to deliver before I talk about them but we have a number of different strategic ways of delivering content. First of all, content will be provided free of charge on the platform, although we’re looking at having a premium content opportunity specifically for the medical world and we already have some interest in organisations, wealth management organisations and other foundations who are keen to sponsor this. So, this is an opportunity for corporate social responsibility to sponsor a premium product which would include AI tools, peer-to-peer communications and wealth management seem to like that opportunity to sponsor it. We’re looking and we’re exploring those avenues currently.
Q5: Are you confident that you’ll meet your targets? Can you tell us a little bit more about what’s to come and where we see WideAcademy in the next 6-12 months and the next 12-18 months?
A5: So, the next 6-12 months, we have a plan which is ahead of schedule, my technology team have built out a platform and we’re moving in to what is called an ‘alpha phase’. The alpha phase is the first time we’ll actually have the platform to test and work on and we’re looking for the alpha to move to a beta stage before the year end.
The objective is to launch the platform commercially from Q1 2018, I don’t want to be specific with that date at the moment. Within the platform we will have, as I’ve mentioned, free-to-access content which is disseminated from significant amounts of research and made available to 3 cohorts, obviously the medical world itself to enterprise organisations and to the public.
We will also have components of courseware so we’re working with some leading universities, who have very deep long course courseware, we will be developing that long course courseware into what are called modules. Those modules will be available to the medical world, free-to-access, to have an opportunity to consider and learn from.
We also have the ability to provide accreditation so we have a micro-credentials capability so if somebody wants to be recognised for their learning, they have the ability for a paid for accreditation.
We have also the sponsorship programme which I’ve just alluded to and some very keen partners who are looking to support that and I expect the sponsorship programme to become live, probably again Q1 2018.
What I will add to that is when looking to the whole Widecells Group, we again have brought WideAcademy ahead of schedule because our strategic partners have mentioned, over and over, the relevance of the work that we wanted to do with WideAcademy and how this can support them and empower the whole industry. So, when we have started looking with Alan and the WideAcademy team on how we could develop the project to the point where we can see now with the announcement we made today.
What we really have to see is that WideAcademy is one of the crucial elements for Widecells Group but also for the stem cell industry as a whole. It’s an understatement to say that WideAcademy is just going to support Widecells Group, it’s really going to empower the industry and by doing that it might enable more funding to be dropped into the stem cell industry, it might allow more people to be looking into what’s happening now and just drive more opportunity. So, WideAcademy is really one of the key elements of what we’re doing.
