Exciting Future For Young Bioscience Entrepreneurs
The Finals of the 1997 Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme (Biotechnology YES) took place at the DTI in January. Mr John Battle, Minister for Science, Energy and Environment who attended the finals was enthusiastic in his support. "I am especially pleased at the way this scheme blends science research with business skills. When I saw the work of these young people today, I know that we have an exciting future where the UK will be a world leader in biotechnology" he said.
Winners of the BBSRC sponsored competition for postgraduates and postdocs were a team of five scientists from the University of Reading. Their winning plan was for the creation of "Inulinx", a company aiming to develop modified crops containing a fat substitute for both food and non-food applications. The team began formulating their plan in October, after an intensive weekend learning about the commercial, financial and managerial issues involved in starting a company. They were one of the teams from the Southern regional competition, selected as finalists.
In addition to their award of £1,000 as overall competition winners, Inulinx scooped the £500 prize from Price Waterhouse for the best financial plan and will receive a training course from De Facto Consultants for giving the best presentation. Deborah Keith, Managing Director of Inulinx, described Biotechnology YES as a "challenging and enlightening crash course in biotech business planning" and also said "it gave a unique opportunity to learn first hand from business men and women, venture capitalists and representatives of biotechnology companies".
"Animapharm GT" from University College London were voted runners-up, winning £500 for their plans to develop a novel tick vaccine for cattle. The team from the University of Manchester, "Meditherm" won £250 in book tokens from Eric Potter Clarkson for their consideration of the intellectual property involved in developing their device to treat stroke and head trauma victims.
In the parallel Undergraduate competition the overall winners were "InCap Technolgies" from Imperial College for their development of an orally-administered insulin product.
Biotechnology YES aims to raise awareness of the issues involved in commercialising bioscience research through teams developing plans for an imaginary start-up company.
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