TEMPO innovation capacity building. Establishing mechanisms of technologies’ commercialization

 

Yuri Remnev, Natalia Popova, Zoryana Grishina, Diana Pobedimskaya, Julia Kuznetsova

 

Non Commercial Partnership “Center of Modern Medical Technologies” TEMPO

 

TEMPO developed a business plan competition aims to enhance participants' knowledge level in technology commercialization, stimulate interest of business entities to the most promising medical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological developments, attract investments and promote investable deals. Three learning roundtables were carried out in Moscow, Novosibirsk, and St. Petersburg. “The creative teams” were set up, tasked on jointly business-plans development, and included students-economists and scientists (principle investigators). The independent Corporative Commission, that joined the representatives of American venture companies and Russian biotech companies, as well as leading scientists, identified 20 semifinalists. 12 Semifinalists of the Competition attended the international biotechnology Forum “BIO2006” in Chicago, USA, in April. During the award ceremony in May 2006 two winners were announced. The positive results of the Competition would enable to attract the attention both from governmental, non-governmental organizations and society to biotechnology sector in Russia. The Competition’s organizers assume that this project will initiate an extensive activity on commercialization of technologies lead by TEMPO.

 

The path from the stage of innovative idea inception to its practical application is extremely complicated in view of the separateness of research institutions, certification & testing centers, production capacities and facilities involved in the introduction of medical and biotech developments in the area of public health. Thus, the establishing of a non-profit association engaging advanced research organizations and production enterprises focused on biotechnology and life sciences appears to be a critical and urgent task. Based on this awareness, in November 2002 the I. M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy together with ten Russian leading biotech organizations initiated the foundation of a non-commercial partnership - Center of Modern Medical Technologies ”TEMPO.” The partnership has brought together intellectual, material and organizational resources, targeted at improving health state of the Russian nation through the consolidation and optimization of efforts made by scientists, engineers, manufacturers, experts in public health organization, and practicing physicians in the design and introduction of innovative technologies in the area of public health.

TEMPO is an evolving and growing partnership, bringing together 17 governmental, educational, and private entities. The teams working in TEMPO organizations are able to tackle current scientific and industrial tasks at the cutting-edge level.

TEMPO has established an extensive network of contacts in the Russian and international pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. TEMPO is the member of Bio Industry Organization (BIO, http://www.bio.org/). TEMPO provided leadership to the BII-sponsored Russian delegation at BIO 2004 and BIO 2006. The Partnership is engaged in the solicitation and evaluation of innovations in biotechnology and public health to develop a database of potential investment opportunities for prospective investors. In support of this, TEMPO established a business plan competition, modeled on those at Stanford and MIT, called the Biotechnology Entrepreneurship Competition. The Biotechnology Entrepreneurial Competition Program was started in August 2005 with the support of BioIndustry Initiative Program of the US State Department (BII), www.biistate.net, and the US Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF), www.crdf.org. The Competition Program aims to enhance participants' knowledge level in technology commercialization, stimulate interest of business entities to the most promising medical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological developments, attract investments and promote investable deals.

The Competition objectives are:

Ø                  Creation of Russian database of technologies, perspective for biotech\pharmaceutical industry.

Ø                  Competency building of scientists from TEMPO member institutions in developing innovation projects and commercialization.

Ø                  Attracting of investments into Russian biotech field, and namely, in commercialization of biotech projects, participated in the Competition.

The Competition creates a ‘learning-by-doing’ experience for researchers at TEMPO member institutions to bridge the gap from the laboratory to the market. Three learning roundtables were carried out in Moscow, Novosibirsk, and St. Petersburg. They allowed attendees (representatives from academia and business, students-economists) to enhance the level of knowledge in commercialization and technology transfer, as well as face-to-face meet with foreign and Russian experts in venture capital, business development. The distinctive feature of the competition program is that students of Economic Faculties of Moscow and Novosibirsk State Universities, Moscow State Management University, and St. Petersburg State Technical University were matched with researches on writing a joint business plan. All Competition’s participants have got an opportunity to attend the interactive on-line training “How to write a business plan”, developed by the International Science and Technology Center. In addition, creating a ‘learning-by-doing’ experience for researchers at TEMPO member institutions, the book “Commercialization of biotech product” was prepared by Moscow Urban Center of Innovation and High-Tech of Moscow Government under the order of TEMPO and with the support of BII Program and CRDF. 500 copies were disseminated among TEMPO member organizations. This publishing is addressed to scientists, which are conducting research in biotechnology and aiming at commercialization of results. The book assists in developing the strategy of technology commercialization in biotechnology and helps researcher to understand the perspectives of business.

As a whole, 50 applications were submitted from TEMPO member organizations and organizations, having joint project with TEMPO institutions, to the Competition program at TEMPO. The independent Corporative Commission, which included the representatives of American venture companies and Russian biotech companies, as well as leading scientists, identified 20 semifinalists. Among them such institutes, as State Research Center VB VECTOR (antitumor preparation, live influenza vaccine, etc.), Institute of Highly Pure Biopreparations (new immunomodulators, GMP-production of peptides, etc.), JSC Biochimmash (antiseptic preparation, etc.), Shemyakin & Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (recombinant allergic vaccine, transgenic animals, etc.), IMTEK Ltd. (antiulcer preparation), I.P. Pavlov State Medical University (xenoaortic devices for correction of aortic heart diseases), State Research Center of Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology (production of TB-tests). The second stage of the Competition was to setting up “the creative team”, that included students-economists and scientists (principle investigators). The teams jointly developed business-plans. 6 teams were set up in Moscow (students from Moscow State University and Moscow State Management University), 7 in St. Petersburg (students from St. Petersburg Technology University), and 3 in Novosibirsk (students from Novosibirsk State University).

The round table/press conference “The prospective development of biotechnology market in Russia: analysis, trends, prognoses” was initiated by TEMPO and held on 14 February 2006 at I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy. There were representatives from 15 business, public and professional (pharmaceutical and medicine) media, and news/radio agencies. The projects were presented to the potential investors. 12 Semifinalists of the Competition attended the international biotechnology Forum “BIO2006” in Chicago, USA, in April.

During the award ceremony on 19 May 2006 at the Central House of Scientists in Moscow, 2 winners were announced. They are: “Combined wound coverings with the properties of artificial skin”, State Research Institute of Highly Pure Biopreparations, St. Petersburg, and “Development of anticancer adenovirus preparation "Cancerolisin", SRC VB VECTOR, Koltsovo. The key features of the projects are a) a very-well formulated business-plan, and b) availability of the product (wound covering and antitumor preparation) near to the market’s implementation. The winner teams will get the financial support for the further development and implementation of the projects.

The Competition’s organizers assume that this project will initiate an extensive activity on commercialization of technologies lead by TEMPO.