Biotechnology YES

The Biotechnology YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) is an innovative competition developed to raise awareness of the commercialisation of bioscience ideas among postgraduate students/postdoctoral scientists.

More information can be found here.

In order to enter the competition, you need to form a team of (usually 4-5) PhD students and/or post-docs and develop an imaginary idea that has the potential for commercialisation. As the website says, "Your idea should be based on biotechnology that is realistic, but is currently hypothetical. For example, you could assume for the sake of the competition, as the 2002 winning team did, that a micro-organism has been identified with novel enzymatic activity. Remember that you idea must be believable; you should be able to account for the advances in science needed to develop your imaginary technology."

Local three-day workshops are then held to help you develop your idea into a business plan, and to prepare a presentation to sell your idea to a panel. Two teams from each local workshop are then invited to participate in the final.

The closing date for entries is 17th June, so there's still plenty of time to get thinking of ideas. Local workshops will be held in the autumn, and the final will be held in December.

For anyone working in the biosciences who is interested in finding out about commercialisation of biotechnology, this really is a fantastic opportunity. I took part in the 2002 competition (or 03? Can't quite remember!) while I was doing my PhD, and spent an amazing few days at a local workshop in Edinburgh, attending presentations from business and biotech experts, and staying up until all hours putting together our business plan and presentation. Sadly, my team didn't make it through to the final, but I learned an incredible amount from those few days, both about commercialisation of biotechnology research and about myself and what I am capable of. Plus, it was really great fun, and we got to go to the zoo on the way home. Can't argue with that!