Written by Federico Citterich
Conceived and reviewed by Alessandro Rossetta
Crowdhelix is helping LaserBlood expand its reach beyond the consortium by building a dedicated community around pancreatic cancer research, collaboration, dissemination, and long-term impact.
“Pancreatic cancer affects people globally, so we want to spread the message as widely as possible and find a global solution that can work for everyone”, says Paul McKenna, Head of Membership Operations at Crowdhelix and manager of the Pancreatic Cancer Helix.
This is where Crowdhelix’s work begins: by creating the communities that allow research to connect with the wider innovation ecosystem. The company develops and manages thematic “Helixes”, open innovation networks designed to bring together researchers, companies, investors, and other stakeholders around shared scientific and societal challenges. For LaserBlood, the Pancreatic Cancer Helix is intended to become both a space for collaboration and a focal point for dissemination.
Crowdhelix joins projects as what McKenna describes as “an impact acceleration partner”, and was created in response to a changing European research landscape. “Its origins go back to 2012 – McKenna explains – when its founder was working at University College London, an institution with a strong track record in European funding programmes”.
At the time, many academic groups were producing excellent research but lacked access to the wider networks increasingly needed to build competitive EU consortia, such as industry partners, SMEs, innovation actors, and organisations from widening participation regions.
“A lot of the academic research did not have those networks”, McKenna says. “As European framework programmes evolved from FP7 towards Horizon 2020 and, later, Horizon Europe, the composition of consortia also changed”. Research excellence remained essential, but projects increasingly needed to show broader collaboration, innovation potential, and routes to impact.
The Pancreatic Cancer Helix
The platform is not only designed to identify potential partners, but also to create opportunities for them to meet and exchange ideas. “To ensure active collaboration, we host events, including project-specific webinars and in-person events”, McKenna explains.
Through these formats, Crowdhelix can bring in interested stakeholders and give projects a space to present their goals and results. “LaserBlood, for example, was recently featured through a poster at Crowdhelix’s Health Matchmaking event in Barcelona”, McKenna says.
Crowdhelix’s aim is to build a community that can remain active over time. As part of its partnership with LaserBlood, one of the goals is to bring 150 leading organisations or subscribers into the Pancreatic Cancer Helix. But McKenna stresses that this is not intended as a fixed endpoint. “The wider we go, the better”, he says. “We do not just want to stop at 150. The idea is to keep growing the community and make sure it stays alive even after the end of the project”.
Paul McKenna
This long-term perspective is especially important in a field such as pancreatic cancer, where research needs to continue beyond the timeline of any single funded project. Through the Helix’s “Who’s in the Helix” structure, researchers can identify others working in the same area and connect across Crowdhelix’s wider network. Crowdhelix has committed to keeping the Pancreatic Cancer Helix active for at least two years after LaserBlood ends, ensuring that results can continue to be shared as they emerge.
“Not all results of the project will be available by the deadline”, McKenna explains. Keeping the community active after the project ends means that findings can still be published, featured on the platform, and made visible to the right audiences. “But it is also a way to avoid duplication and help future work build on what has already been learned”, McKenna adds. “We do not want people to repeat work that could instead become a starting point for new research”, he concludes.
PARTNER DESCRIPTION
Crowdhelix is an open innovation network and platform that connects researchers, innovators, companies, business leaders, and investors across global research and innovation ecosystems. Its network includes more than 20,000 profiled users across over 85 countries, organised through sector-specific thematic communities known as Helixes. Through this model, Crowdhelix helps organisations identify partners, build collaborative consortia, access funding opportunities, and accelerate the impact of research and innovation projects.
Within LaserBlood, Crowdhelix leads communication, dissemination, and impact acceleration activities. Its role is to use its platform and international network to build a dedicated community around the project through the Pancreatic Cancer Helix, one of Crowdhelix’s thematic virtual communities. The Helix is designed to engage relevant stakeholders – including researchers, innovators, industry representatives, business leaders, and investors – and to support the dissemination of LaserBlood’s objectives, progress, and results. By the end of the project, the Pancreatic Cancer Helix is expected to involve 150 leading organisations.
Crowdhelix’s work in LaserBlood is led by Paul McKenna, Head of Membership Operations at Crowdhelix and manager of the Pancreatic Cancer Helix. His role focuses on supporting member organisations in building global engagement across academia and industry, particularly for open innovation projects and collaborative partnerships. Before joining Crowdhelix, McKenna spent 18 years at University College London’s Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, where he managed departmental operations, finances, and professional services.
REFERENCES
Crowdhelix. Crowdhelix. Available at: https://crowdhelix.com (accessed July 2026).
Crowdhelix. Pancreatic Cancer Helix. Available at: https://platform.crowdhelix.com/helixes/pancreatic-cancer/info (accessed July 2026).