In the beginning of June, 25 early-career scientists from across the country converged in Boston to participate in the second annual I-Corps Bio-Entrepreneurship Workshop to learn about commercializing early-stage ideas. The workshop was offered in partnership with The National Science Foundation, University of New Hampshire (UNH) I-Corps, Northeastern University, and VentureWell, and took place in parallel to the BIO International Conference. The 25 participants were chosen from a pool of 60 applicants with special consideration of diversity and inclusion to help ensure scientists from all backgrounds are given the tools and skills necessary to bring ideas to market.
The three-day course was designed to be a hybrid of a hackathon and the I-Corps training program, which was first developed for the National Science Foundation (NSF). On day one, all the participants had a chance to meet and were introduced to their preassigned team members. Each team was paired with business mentors who were there to help provide strategies, refinement, and guidance and ensure the teams stayed focused on identifying real solutions that benefit human health. The topic of focus for this year’s workshop was regenerative medicine and the morning of the first day was spent listening to presentations from several founders of companies in the regenerative medicine space. Speakers in sectors ranging from CAR-T and tissue engineering, to medical devices and diagnostics, shared their experiences and the challenges their companies have faced in delivering needed solutions. After the presentations, each team was asked to research a problem space within regenerative medicine and then select and develop an idea that addresses the problem. They were given customer discovery interview training and asked to map out a plan for customer discovery on the BIO International Conference floor. On the second day of the workshop, the teams took their ideas to the conference hall to learn about the competitive landscape, meet with potential customers and partners, and learn from industry leaders and domain experts. On the final day of the workshop, the teams reconvened to report what they had learned in their interviews and discuss how their ideas had changed and developed over the course of the workshop.
The Bio I-Corps Inclusive Entrepreneurship Training Program, developed last year by Susan Baxter and her team from San Diego State University (SDSU), was delivered by an experienced teaching team (many with direct biotech leadership experience) from UNH, SDSU, MIT, and the United Negro Fund. Over the three days, the participants transformed into creative problem-solvers focused on market needs. After the workshop was over, all 25 participants said they saw themselves participating in the commercialization of biotech in the future. The training will serve them well as they advance in their careers, and future BIO I-Corps Inclusive Entrepreneurship Training workshops will continue to make a small but meaningful difference in the advancement of diversity and inclusion in biotech.
Chelsey DiGiuseppe
Marketing Manager
UNHInnovation
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