Miranda Weston-Smith has advised many biotech entrepreneurs and looking back over the past 10 years she can see the impact that they have made both on the pharma industry and beyond.
“Biotechnologists came straight from academia and started to commercialise their work without first joining one of the large established companies. This created a major disruptive influence on the status quo. For the first time instead of innovation being produced from within the organisation there became scope for pharmaceutical businesses to fill their product pipelines by ‘purchasing’ interesting molecules and technology from small organisations. “
“Large pharmaceutical companies started to outsource the elements of their businesses that were not core competencies and to look outside for new ideas and approaches.”
“As a result the life sciences sector has seen a radical restructure with the growth of clusters of businesses with mutual dependences. This is continuing with new communities, which by working collaboratively are increasing our understanding of the action of therapeutics at a gene level. This has led to the detection of novel biomarkers, stem cell treatments and has created opportunities for personalised and preventative medicine.”
“The result is not just diversification of the industry but also has driven the creation of new business models and a need for a variety of skills sets.”
“Although I have seen an increasing proportion of women in leadership roles at all levels in bio companies this has not been reflected by the number of women on the podium, cited as thought leaders in the media, or on investor panels. As a result, the industry has been missing their insights and valuable role models they can provide to younger scientists.”
To address this issue Weston- Smith developed the concept of “50 Movers and Shakers in BioBusiness 2014” and challenged the industry to recognise the contribution that senior women are making.
She explains: “I saw the potential for female leaders to inspire the next wave of bio innovation and build a stronger life sciences sector.”
“Research suggests that women adopt different strategies for business growth from novel ways of building companies and working in teams to raising funds and attitudes to risk.”
BioBeat14 aims to look at the next generation of business ideas with a debate on Leading in a Collaborative World to tease out how bio companies can stay ahead with new ways of working and adapting to ever changing global health needs. As the biotech industry comes of age the entrepreneurs who benefitted in the early wave now have money, and the appetite, to invest in new approaches.
She says: “Investors invest in people, and the suggestion is that recruiting the ‘same again’ is detrimental to the future growth of a company.”
“Increasing the visibility of dynamic women in companies, research, hospitals, finance and advisory roles with their visions and boldness brings fresh thinking and opportunities for bio entrepreneurs. We can double our life science business potential.”
5.30 – 8.30 pm, Thursday 23 October 2014, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge
Agenda
5.30 – 6.00 pm Registration
6.00 – 7.00 pm Panel debate: Leading in a collaborative world
It’s a more competitive world, and we will win by being more collaborative. The panel will explore leadership in funding, teams, operations and business models:
- Maina Bhaman, Director Healthcare Ventures, Imperial Innovations plc
- Ruth McKernan CBE, Senior Vice President, Pfizer and CSO, Pfizer Neusentis
- Carina Namih, CEO and Co-founder, HelixNano
- Carmel Reilly, CEO and Co-founder, NeurocentRx Pharma
- Chair: Louise Wood, Deputy Director/Head of Research Infrastructure and Growth, Department of Health
7.00 – 8.30 pm Networking with refreshments
Meet with many of the 50 women movers and shakers, open up new contacts and discuss your ideas for growing a bio venture.
Find out more about the event and register: www.inno-forum.org
Conference partners
BioBeat
Miranda Weston-Smith founded BioBeat in 2012 to inspire the next wave of bio entrepreneurs and leaders. This not-for-profit programme is run in partnership with the University of Cambridge Judge Business School’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning and the Innovation Forum.
In addition, Miranda provides practical business development services for healthcare and biotech. She supports clients with marketing, new venture development and technology transfer expertise offering a cost-effective way to boost a company's growth. To find out more about Miranda visit her website »
Cambridge Judge Business School’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning
The Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) at Cambridge Judge Business School aims to spread the spirit of enterprise to both the University of Cambridge community and to wider national and international audiences through the creation and delivery of a range of educational activities that inspire and build skills in the practise of Entrepreneurship. One of CfEL's key teaching values is that the best people to teach entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. This philosophy has led to the Centre collaborating with a network of over 300 experienced entrepreneurs, innovators and other practitioners to provide relevant, credible and practical training.
The Centre has developed an enviable track record in the field of entrepreneurship education with a number of flagship programmes designed to provide skills for students, graduates, researchers and aspiring entrepreneurs from different backgrounds and at different stages of the entrepreneurial journey. These programmes are Enterprise Tuesday, ETECH Projects, Ignite, Enterprisers and the Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship.
Tel: 01223 766900; Email: [email protected] ; Web: www.cfel.jbs.cam.ac.uk
Innovation Forum
The Innovation Forum (IF) (www.inno-forum.org) was set up by young researchers (PhD students and postdocs) at the University of Cambridge in 2012, to connect grassroots scientists with industry, investment and policy leaders. The IF executive committee consists of 20 young researchers and industry professionals in Cambridge, and 30 committee members globally at the different university branches.
IF’s main aim is to forward inventions, developed by top scientists & engineers at leading institutes, towards industry, investors and policy makers. Access to a global network of young researchers allows IF to break traditional silos between disciplines and within science fields, which can result in disruptive technologies and new collaborations. IF aims to be the accelerator for high-tech startups globally and attract the world’s leading startups to relocate to Cambridge and the Golden Triangle (Cambridge-London-Oxford).
The strong network at the University of Cambridge allow IF to have extensive access to scientists at a wide range of Departments and Institutes. Additionally IF has effectively set up different university branches in: Oxford, London (UCL, KCL and Imperial), Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Find out more via the web site at http://www.inno-forum.org/
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Contact
Miranda Weston-Smith
07979 754186
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