This week, BioInnovation Institute (BII) and CBS Executive welcomed 31 participants from Northern and Central Europe to the first edition of The BII Summer School to get a taste of life science entrepreneurship. The participants received an overview of critical aspects of how to take research from lab to market within health tech, therapeutics and bioindustrials.
The students were taken through the commercialization process, from what drives innovation to understanding the importance of intellectual property rights and developing the critical components of a business plan and turning it into a great investor pitch.
For Henriette Svarre Nielsen, Professor at Hvidovre Hospital and currently a part of BII’s three-year Faculty program, the summer school has been very educational and provided her with many vital takeaways that she can immediately make use of.
“When you have a clinical background, you haven’t had an introduction to all these fundamental principles that are crucial for turning a great scientific idea into something that is also commercially relevant. But during this week, you have been given an excellent overview of all the different aspects, and the last few days, I have thought that I should maybe start to file some patent applications, says Henriette Svarre Nielsen and laughs.
Arvi Jõers, who is an Associate Professor at the University of Tartu and traveled from Estonia to Copenhagen to be a part of the BII Summer School adds:
“Coming from academia, you tend to focus primarily on science and technology, but it has become apparent during this week that you need to have a commercial perspective already from day one. I believe that for many who dream about bringing their research ideas to market, it has been unique to get all these insights from brilliant speakers.
The BII Summer School was hosted at BII’s facilities in central Copenhagen and throughout the week the participants met BII start-ups, industry representatives, venture capitalists and experts in business development and intellectual property rights.