Bioscience has a vital role in healthcare, food production and sustainability, so the SoCoBio DTP sees an appreciation of the culture and practice of business as essential to our programme. After a year on the DTP programme the 2020 cohort of SoCoBio students did a Business and Entrepreneurship Training Course. A 5-day Residential Summer School at the University of Sussex was followed by a 6-week online course culminating in a Dragons’ Den style pitch for a Biotech Business. The teaching team from the Sussex Business School and Science Policy Research unit included Mr Mark Fisher who has experience in commercial and not-for-profit organizations along with Prof. Michael Hopkins, and Drs Philippa Crane, Adrian Ely and Michael O’Neil who are experts in policy advice, ethics and building businesses in biotech, sustainability and healthcare sectors.
There was a real buzz to the Summer School Brighton is a great location for a week in late Summer, and this was an opportunity to meet both students and academics for the first time. The online part of the course allowed students to work in teams across the DTP, learning how finance and marketing fit with innovation to make a business.
Students commented:
“It was a great opportunity to learn something new while also networking with other students and the speakers.”
