BioFIT is a partnering event in Europe for people negotiating technology transfers, working in academia-industry collaborations and driving early-stage innovation deals in the life sciences. It is also a venue for discussing and learning about pre-seed, seed and Series A investments. Our 2019 preliminary programme features discussions about how small and medium-sized enterprises and others can work with corporate venture capital firms; what milestones they should expect to reach for an academic asset and how they can use big data to fuel collaborations between industry and academic institutions.