i+Med case: a cooperative of biomedical engineering scientists

i+Med, a company from Alava in the biotechnology sector, established as a cooperative in 2014 in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country), finalized, in the spring of 2022, the details of the new building that would house, in the Miñano Technology Park (Alava), its headquarters and the International Biomedical Institute of Intelligent Nanohydrogels, a pioneering center worldwide in its scientific field and the reflection of all the work they have been doing since the company was created.

This "cooperative of scientists", as they liked to present themselves, had been working as R&D engineering for foreign pharmaceutical companies from the very beginning. This activity was the main source of resources for the company. In addition, these projects allowed them to face one of the particularities of the sector in which i+Med operated: the long certification processes for their own medical devices1 and the need to raise sufficient financial resources to take on this difficult journey prior to commercialization.

Manu Muñoz, CEO of the company, explained that the purpose of i+Med was always to have its own medical devices on the market, which, although they did not initially represent the majority of its turnover, were its survival insurance, which would "feed it in the future".

Gradually i+Med made progress, but at the beginning of 2019, however, the first imbalances in the model appeared. Deadlines for third-party projects were delayed, and even some important ones were brought to a standstill - something that used to happen relatively often - but all this at the same time as they realized that they had not paid enough attention to their own products, which were at an insufficient stage to be sold. Unprecedented measures were taken, such as a reduction in wages and some employment contracts were not renewed. The complex situation could be remedied, but it highlighted the need for further reflection in order to make strategic decisions that would avoid this situation again in the future.

In April 2022, Manu, in front of the plans of the new building that had been baptized Gure Etxea (our house), was the bearer of the illusion and conviction about the future of i+Med. He continued to defend that i+Med should belong to the scientists and people who made it grow; the model was different from that of the usual companies in that world, "a real life project", but, at the same time, some questions asked him to propose the most appropriate guidelines for the company: "Were they going to be able to keep their values and principles intact as a cooperative, what should be the future evolution of the corporate strategy?

Table of contents:

-THE FIRST STEPS OF I+MED. -THE COMPANY MODEL: A COOPERATIVE OF SCIENTISTS. -I+MED'S STRATEGIC PILLARS. -GROWING AS A COOPERATIVE. -SUPPORTING THE BUSINESS MODEL: A QUESTION OF SURVIVAL. -BIBLIOGRAPHY. -APPENDICES