Biotechnology Conference for New Breed of Scientist

The latest figures in New Zealand show biotechnology is on its way to becoming a billion dollar industry. With this in mind, the best business brains from the University of Otago School of Business and Chicago's Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management are combining to provide a course-conference with insights on commercialisation and related issues.

The Technology: Strategies for Innovation and Growth course-conference in Queenstown is designed for practitioners who embrace the dynamic technology environment and aspire to be leaders in the biotechnology and technology industry in New Zealand and throughout the world.

University of Otago School of Business Manager Executive Education Jessie Luxton says the programme is taught in two modules in December and February with presentations from internationally recognised academics and elite business leaders.

She says those who would benefit most include CEOs and senior executives of technology companies.

"People who are involved in company development and strategic planning, venture capitalists involved in biotech company development, business development executives assessing possible partnerships or acquiring technology companies, consultants entering the technology arena and equity investors who evaluate biotech companies will all gain some benefit by attending the course," Ms Luxton says.

Experts from Northwestern University Associate Professor Scott Stern* (Kellogg School of Management) and Professor Clinton Francis* (School of Law) will lend their experience and knowledge at the course conference. So too, will Dr Jonathan Lasch*, from Convergent Ventures in California, who teaches at UCLA and has more than 20 years of experience in science and technology development.

Ms Luxton says feedback from the inaugural course held last year was that a benefit of the four-day modules is the ongoing relationships formed with other participants and the business opportunities and linkages made with the international teaching staff.

"It is a real opportunity to form networks to help companies branch into the United States," she says.

University of Otago Marketing Lecturer Phil Osborne is leading the delivery of the Competitive Strategy module and customised programmes for the University's School of Business Executive Education programme. He says one of the key challenges for the participants in the turbulent environment of the biotechnology industry is to remove themselves from the daily operational challenges and consider the wider implications of their decisions.

"There is great value in the opportunity to reflect, and discuss the choices made so far because many early stage biotech firms have, necessarily, focussed on achieving the next milestone. This programme encourages the participants to see the big picture, while providing insight to the building blocks of success."

Mr Osborne says the commercialisation of innovation often requires a structured approach, in order that organisations can "cross the chasm" from scientific success to marketplace acceptance, and this recognition signals certain organisational processes that are not immediately apparent.

The course conference is being held at the St Moritz Hotel in Queenstown. The first module runs from Tuesday 4 to Friday 7 December. The second module runs from Tuesday 19 to Friday 22 February 2008.

Registrations for the course conference close on 31 October.

*Notes
Associate Professor Scott Stern is an expert on economics of technological change, industrial organisation, economics of organisations and strategic management in high-technology industries. He explores how innovation - the production and distribution of "ideas" - differs from more traditional economic goods, and the implications of these differences for business and public policy. Often focusing on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, this research is at the intersection between industrial organisation and the economics of technical change.

Professor Clinton Francis teaches and researches in the areas of Intellectual Property, e-Commerce, Commercial Law and Bankruptcy. Professor Francis has specialised in computer-assisted instruction and has developed business simulation software. Most recently he has formed a business venture for partnering law firms with Northwestern University for the production and delivery of online legal instruction for corporations and professionals.

Dr Jonathan Lasch is an expert in the evaluation of biomedical instruments and systems, biotechnology, chemistry, and materials science. An author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and an inventor on several patents, he serves on the advisory committees and boards of several for-profit and non-profit organisations.