WideCells Group PLC WideAcademy Strategic Update (7247H)

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RNS Number : 7247H

WideCells Group PLC

12 June 2017

12 June 2017

WideCells Group PLC ('WideCells Group' or 'the Company')

WideAcademy - Strategic Development Update Following the Recent Appointment of the Former Director of Apple Education as WideAcademy Senior Vice President and Group NED

WideCells Group PLC, the healthcare services company focused on providing stem cell services and ground breaking insurance for stem cell treatment, is pleased to provide a strategic update on WideAcademy, its 100% owned education and training division. These strategic developments follow the recent Board appointment of Alan Greenberg, former Director of Education at Apple, as Non-Executive Director of WideCells Group and Senior Vice President of WideAcademy, and the recent Placing.

-- Mandate: To establish WideAcademy as the thought leader on stem cell technologies and innovation for medical professionals and families. The proposition must not only be self-funded but profitable.

-- Strategy: WideAcademy will secure and work with strategic partners in the tech and education sectors to produce and deliver trustworthy, authentic and digestible content and courseware focussed on the stem cell industry.

-- Global Ambition: WideAcademy will harness technology to drive access to objective educational tools and content worldwide. It will firstly focus on creating resources for English-speaking communities. It plans to develop a number of channels to reach its audiences and establish WideAcademy as the go-to portal for stem cells.

-- Target Markets: WideAcademy has identified three core communities which would benefit from a strengthened understanding of stem cell innovation:

o Medical professionals - most existing health professionals have not been educated in stem cell technologies. The same is often true for those currently being taught and trained who represent the next generation of medical professionals. Even where stem cell training / teaching has been undertaken, medical professionals are not educated on best-practise and have no obvious channel through which they can access news and stay up-to-date with innovation in the sector.

-- Enterprise / industry - the insurance broking industry will be a critical channel in supporting the roll out of CellPlan, the Company's innovative stem cell insurance product. This industry, together with cord blood storage facilities, could benefit from an educational resource.

-- The public - these are the consumers. The more they know about stem cell innovation, the stronger the market becomes.

-- Multi-channel - both digital distribution channels for the dissemination of free content and revenue generative initiatives, including courseware, are being investigated to deliver intuitive information to target markets

-- Who? Joining Alan Greenberg will be Jimmy Leach, an experienced digital consultant who has previously been Head of Digital Diplomacy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Editorial Director for Digital at The Independent, Head of Digital Communications at Downing Street, and executive editor at the guardian.co.uk. As Editor-in-Chief to WideAcademy, Mr Leach will be responsible for driving intuitive, informative and engaging content. WideAcademy is also in the process of making further key appointments, including a Vice President of Education, with experience in academic research, learning technology and pedagogy, and a Vice President of Enterprise, with experience in Continuing Professional Development and training in the insurance and banking industries. Further updates relating to these appointements will be made in due course.

WideAcademy Vice President, Alan Greenberg said, "WideAcademy is focused on bringing stem cell innovation to the world. Through my involvement with Apple Education and formative role in launching educational podcasts I have first-hand experience of the huge impact engaging digital content can have in driving education. Technology will be key to unlocking our proposition, which is centred on creating and distributing easily-digestible and trustworthy content, much of which will be free to access, share and 'like'. Courseware, accreditation, and the access to distinguished networks will come at a price, enabling this proposition to become self-funding. We believe that these offerings will be valuable to both individuals wishing to enhance their knowledge and to professional institutions such as a doctor's surgery, a teaching hospital, university or medical school department. I believe stem cell technology is set to transform our medical world and I am delighted to be a part of the WideCells team as we look to bring this innovative industry to the wider market."

WideCells Group CEO, João Andrade, said, "WideAcademy's focus on promoting best-practise and quality whilst driving innovation is highly synergistic to the principles held by the rest of the WideCells Group. It also fits ideally with WideCells' mission to make stem cell treatment accessible and affordable to all. By helping people to understand this growing industry from multiple perspectives and angles, WideAcademy will help drive the uptake of products and services and in turn investment across the entire sector. It is this commitment to both innovation and education which recently resulted in us being ranked as the 21st most disruptive company globally by DISRUPT 100, which is an annual index celebrating the businesses with the most potential to influence, change or create new global markets. We look forward to continuing to disrupt and advance the rapidly growing stem cell industry through our multi-focus approach, which alongside the educational focus of WideAcademy includes stem cell storage and research and a first of its kind insurance plan, CellPlan. With multiple value upside triggers ahead, including imminent maiden revenues from CellPlan, I very much look forward to the opportunities ahead!"

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit the Company's website www.widecellsgroup.com, follow us on Twitter @WideCells_Group or contact:

 
 WideCells Group      CEO - João Andrade    Tel: +351 919 
                                                  033 171 
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 Smaller Company      Broker - Jeremy Woodgate   Tel: +44 (0) 
  Capital Ltd          & Rupert Williams          20 3651 2912 
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 Shard Capital        Broker - Damon Heath       Tel: +44 (0) 
  Partners LLP         & Erik Woolgar             207 186 9950 
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 St Brides Partners   PR - Elisabeth Cowell      Tel: +44 (0) 
  Ltd                  & Charlotte Page           20 7236 1177 
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Notes to Editors

WideCells Group PLC is building an integrated stem cell services company, focused on making stem cell treatments accessible and affordable. The Directors believe that the use of cord blood stem cells for transplant will drive one of the next important phases in medicine and is therefore developing market leading products in complementary, strategic areas which are designed to take advantage of substantial market opportunities in one of the fastest growing segments in the healthcare industry. With this in mind, it has created three divisions:

-- CellPlan: the world's first stem cell healthcare insurance plan with financial cover for medical treatment, travel and accommodation expenses and concierge service to manage the treatment process

-- WideCells: the Institute of Stem Cell Technology has been established and is based in the University of Manchester Innovation Centre to focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. WideCells also has international cryogenics divisions specialising in stem cell storage.

-- WideAcademy: developing an education and training division to promote awareness of the benefits of stem cell storage across the global general practice community.

The Group has built an experienced senior management team that has been integral to the development of its growth and business to date.

Stem Cell Fast Facts:

-- Cord blood (which is taken from the umbilical cord) provides the most effective source of stem cells for families due to it being simple, safe and painless to collect relative to other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow - WideCells will focus on promoting the collection and storage of this

-- Since 2005, there has been a 300% increase in the number of illnesses that can be treated using stem cells

   --     82 illnesses can currently be treated using stem cell procedures 

-- Despite initial storage often costing no more than a few GBPthousand, actual treatment can cost in the GBPhundreds of thousands

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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June 12, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)