CUTISS AG

Their core work

CUTISS AG is a Swiss biotech SME that develops personalized, bio-engineered skin grafts for permanent treatment of skin defects such as burns and chronic wounds. Their core product — denovoSkin — uses a patient's own cells to grow full-thickness skin substitutes, moving from lab-scale production toward GMP-compliant manufacturing. They operate at the intersection of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and clinical-grade biomanufacturing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CUTISS's H2020 trajectory follows a classic biotech scale-up arc. Their early projects (2018) focused on proving the concept and clinical viability of personalized skin grafts through the denovoSkin SME instrument phases. By 2019-2020, the focus shifted toward manufacturing scale-up (SkinFactory 2.0's 'GMP-in-a-box') and deeper scientific engagement in skin regeneration research through the SkinTERM training network, signaling a move from product development toward industrialization and broader scientific positioning.

CUTISS is transitioning from clinical product development to industrial-scale manufacturing and embedding itself in the broader skin regeneration research community — a strong signal they are preparing for market entry.

How they like to work

CUTISS operates primarily as a project leader, coordinating 3 out of 4 H2020 projects. Their consortia are small and focused (8 unique partners across 5 countries), consistent with a product-driven SME that keeps control of its core technology while selectively bringing in research partners. Their participation in the larger SkinTERM MSCA network as a non-coordinator shows willingness to contribute industry perspective to academic training programs.

CUTISS has built a compact European network of 8 partners across 5 countries, likely including academic hospitals and research institutions focused on skin biology and tissue engineering. Their network is selective rather than broad, reflecting a product-focused SME strategy.

What sets them apart

CUTISS occupies a rare niche: a biotech SME that has taken a personalized tissue-engineered product from concept through SME Instrument Phase 1 and Phase 2, then tackled manufacturing scale-up — all within H2020. Few SMEs in the skin regeneration space have this end-to-end trajectory from bench to production-ready. For consortium builders, they bring both deep domain knowledge in skin bioengineering and real-world experience with GMP manufacturing challenges for advanced therapy products.

Highlights from their portfolio

• denovoSkin
  Received EUR 2.5M in SME-2 funding — the largest investment — for personalized bio-engineered skin grafts, representing the company's flagship clinical product.
• SkinFactory 2.0
  Addresses the critical manufacturing bottleneck ('GMP-in-a-box') needed to bring tissue-engineered skin from lab to market scale.
• SkinTERM
  MSCA training network running until 2025, positioning CUTISS within the broader European skin regeneration research community as an industry training host.