Abstract:

The proportion of bioscience PhDs that enter the academic workforce is steadily declining with only three or four in every hundred PhD students in the United Kingdom landing a permanent staff position at a university. It’s only a little better in the United States (1). Those who do enter academia essentially become CEOs of a small business, even if they do not necessarily recognize this. However, the resources for encountering solutions to the myriad of experiences encountered in the workforce are not a staple of graduate education in the biosciences. The Society for Bioenterprise Education and Research (SIBER, www.SIBER.bio) is an international organization with the goal of educating the next generation of Bioentrepreneurs, whether they be in academia or the commercial sector. This simple-sounding goal belies the complexities of science-business interaction. The translation of scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs requires a multi-disciplinary, creative workforce. The participants in SIBER have experience of a range of modalities for educating this workforce through a combination of degree programs and appropriately designed and targeted courses, many documented here (Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship Volume 4, Number 2, 2017). One such example, the MS in Biotechnology Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University combines course-based instruction with a year-long internship in a small start-up company, real or nascent (2,3). The students are also connected to the various business incubators where they are able to both network and identify employment opportunities following graduation. The challenges in developing such programs in science departments with the approved discipline-based academic rigor coupled to the broader educational goals will be considered.

References:
[1] Many junior scientists need to take a hard look at their job prospects. NATURE | EDITORIAL 25 October 2017
[2] Christopher Cullis (2017) Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Graduate Education Based in a Biology Department - Case Western Reserve University. Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship 4, 95 – 98. DOI: 10.2174/2213809904666170728114355
[3] Karl J. Kunert, Blessed Okole, Barend J. Vorster, Nicholas J. Brewin, Christopher A. Cullis (2012) A general model for training the next generation of Biotech entrepreneurs based on recent experience of USA-UK-South Africa collaborations. J Commercial Biotechnology 18, 63–66. doi: 10.5912/jcb.525

Keywords:

Bioentechnology Entrepreneurship.