Say 'YES' to the competition

Grass that does not need cutting, surgical gloves that change colour if they are damaged and contact lenses which detect changes in glucose levels are just a few of the of hypothetical business ideas pitched by young scientists taking part in Biotechnology YES

2005 Biotechnology YES winners from the university of Glasgow. From left: Peter Barber, Jana Vavrova, Adrienne Edkins and Colm Nester.

 Biotechnology YES (the Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) is a national competition which provides PhD students and early-career post-docs with training in entrepreneurship and commercial awareness as well as the chance to win £1,000 and a trip to America sponsored by UK Trade and Industry.

The scheme is organised jointly by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation (UNIEI) and is backed by some of the biggest names in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and research sectors. Since its inception 11 years ago nearly 1,500 researchers have taken part.

“The ultimate goal of the scheme is to strengthen the UK’s bioscience base by harnessing the skills and energy of young scientists in research institutes and universities across the country,” explains Dr Simon Cutler, BBSRC Innovation Programme Manager and himself a past participant in the scheme. “The scheme plays a vital role in equipping young researchers with the skills and knowledge to enable them to commercialise their science where appropriate. For many participants it is a springboard for their careers,” he says.

Biotechnology YES is not a competition for the faint hearted. Entrants work in teams of four or five, each assuming a different role within their ‘business’. All the teams take part in regional heats where, with the help and guidance of expert mentors, they have three days to put together a watertight business plan for a biotechnology company which will thrive in real-market conditions. They are given free rein over what their company does – as long as it is based on plausible science.

During the heats the teams receive intensive training from entrepreneurs, patent lawyers, financiers and industry figures in how to successfully harness the outputs from research. At the end of the three days, each team pitches their biotech business plan to a panel of would-be investors.

The teams with the best business plans are then invited to a national final in London where they face a panel of judges made up of some of the best bioscience minds in the business. In a similar set-up to the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, the teams have 20 minutes to convince the judges that their business plan is worth investing in.

“Biotechnology YES is one of the earliest examples of what is now recognised as ‘classic’ entrepreneurship education,” says Dr Simon Mosey, Deputy Director of UNIEI. “Students work in teams with their own ‘discoveries’ and inventions to develop new concepts and solutions. They are taught and mentored by practitioners who provide much of the knowledge and understanding and, most critically, the tacit information which only comes from experience.”

Over the past 11 years the competition has gone from strength to strength, partly because of the growth of the bioscience industry itself which provides an ever growing pool of knowledge and expertise for the scheme to tap into. Many scientists who run successful spin-off companies offer their time and experience to help the young participants, some of whom have been through the scheme themselves.

“As the years of the scheme have passed we are delighted to see previous participants gaining senior positions within the biotechnology industry. This provides a virtuous circle as they return to Biotechnology YES to pass on their knowledge and provide role models for today’s young scientists,” says Dr Mosey.

Another indication of the success of the competition is the increasing number of sponsors who support the scheme including the Department for Trade and Industry and the Medical Research Council as well as industry sponsors including GlaxoSmithKline, Syngenta, Smith & Nephew and Unilever. There are now “spin-off” competitions too. Yorkshire and Humber have their own version of the competition – Bioscience YES which is sponsored by the Regional Development Agency Yorkshire Forward for researchers in the area. Two years ago, researchers from North America came over to take part in the first International YES and this year, for the first time, Environment YES is being run in conjunction with the Natural Environment Research Council.

“These are exciting developments recognising that the scheme has stood the test of time,” says Dr Cutler and the figures speak for themselves with the number of entrants reaching a record high this year of over 250. In a study of past participants, carried out last year by Nottingham University Business School on behalf of BBSRC, 43% had gone on to work in the private sector, nearly twice the number of BBSRC-funded PhD students who do not take part in the competition, and of those 77% said the competition helped them gain their current position.

The study also showed that participants found the workshops particularly beneficial and influential on their career aspirations, introducing them to a multitude of opportunities outside the academic environment.

Win or lose, participants unanimously agree they leave with invaluable new knowledge and skills. Comments from past competitors include: “The biotechnology YES competition broadened my horizons and gave me the confidence to go forward and the networking opportunities were very useful, “ and “YES gave me a glimpse of the myriad of science-based career opportunities.”

Participants acquire key skills such as financial awareness, management skills, team working and an understanding of how to raise venture capital. One of the key features of Biotechnology YES is the introduction of participants to intellectual property and patents. Many early career researchers are not familiar with the need for start-up biotech companies to protect the ideas that they will be basing their growth on.

Dr Martin Wickham, who took part in the competition in 2003 and subsequently became a BBSRC-RSE Enterprise Fellow, commented: “Biotechnology YES changed the way I do science and the way I look at data. My experiments don’t finish anymore once I have put the data in a spreadsheet. I now consider whether the data should be protected and whether they have commercial potential. To me this is how scientists should think.”

Since taking part in the competition, several participants have gone on to launch their own successful biotech companies. Tim Hart is one of them. Dr Hart took part in the competition in 1997. “The training and experience I gained from YES really affected my career path. I realised that I enjoyed aspects of science outside academia which previously I never really realised existed,” he says.

Nine years on, Dr Hart is Chief Executive of his own biotech company Cybersense Biosystems. After taking part in the competition, Dr Hart said he returned to the lab but realised he was becoming bored with his research, so decided to start his own company with a colleague who had an idea for a biosensor company.

Dr Hart now sponsors the ‘Best Entrepreneur’ award as part of the competition and is passionate about young scientists taking part in the YES. “The world is increasingly full of bright, young scientists. These days, having a PhD guarantees you to be identified as a scientist nothing more. To get the best job opportunities you need to have more skills and experiences. Biotechnology YES is a unique learning experience where you will learn far more in three days than you will learn in three months at the bench. For our industry the scheme is brilliant as we need some mechanism to prise out of academia the next generation of entrepreneurs,” he says.

Sentiments echoed by Dr Cutler. “This is a scheme we are very proud to be a part of and we hope that in partnership with UNIEI and our industry supporters, Biotechnology YES will continue to evolve and grow. Not only does taking part in the competition enhance researchers’ CVs, it also enhances UK bioscience by helping to produce the next generation of bio-entrepreneurs,” he says.

Next year’s call for Biotechnology YES opens in spring 2007 with the closing date for applications in the summer. For information about Biotechnology YES and how to apply visit: www.biotechnologyYES.co.uk or email:
simon.cutler@bbsrc.ac.uk

By Tracey Jewitt.
Tracey works in the media office for the BBSRC.