Faculty
Finn Valentin (Professor mso), Marion Poetz (Assistant Professor), Sof Thrane., Aleksandra Gregoric, Karin Beukel, Toke Reichstein og Kenneth Svenningsen.

Course Coordinator
Marion Poetz

For CBS students, the course builds on skills from first year studies in the Cand Merc programs FIR, FSM, AEF, IMM, IBS, MIB. The course can be selected without former knowledge in BioBusiness and Innovation and is primarily aimed at students who have completed their first year of master studies, and seek skills in science-based entrepreneurship and innovation management in the biotech industry.

BBI is the first cooperation at master degree level between Copenhagen Business School (CBS), the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Faculty of Life Sciences of the Copenhagen University (LIFE), making it the first attempt to bridge the skills of business and biotech students. As the biotech industry strongly builds on industry-academic collaboration the course strives at preparing students for the advanced entrepreneurial environment of this industry by offering integrated insights into the innovation process, including both its technical aspects and its business perspectives. Students are trained to build the synergy required for successful science-based entrepreneurship, while they build networks spanning the three universities and industry.

In the BBI course students from DTU, Life and CBS are offered a platform for joint entrepreneurial work on innovations generated either by DTU, LIFE or partner companies from the Biotech industry such as Novozymes. Key features of the course include:

The course starts with a one day kick-off module providing basics in:

The kick-off meeting is followed by eight three-hours seminars covering key themes in bio-entrepreneurship:

Each seminar has both theoretical and practical approaches. Professors from CBS. LIFE and DTU provide theory and methodology, while speakers from industry offer practical insights, real-life examples and material for case work.

The students’ project work, which relates to building a business plan for commercializing an innovation that has recently grown out of research from DTU, LIFE or Novozymes, will be accompanied by three one-hour supervision sessions between the student groups and professors from CBS, LIFE and DTU. Groups are also given the opportunity to discuss their projects with the speakers from industry. Students will be working in groups of 3-4 members, with at least one student from either university. The business plan produced during the course is submitted to the Venture Cup competition at the end of the course.

In this course students learn the central skills in science-based entrepreneurship and innovation management in the biotech industry. The course provides students with the necessary knowledge on how to bridge science and business and translate biotech concepts into commercial terms. It also enables students to understand the differences in issues and challenges in science-based industries related to entrepreneurship and innovation. Finally students will develop the skills to successfully work in interdisciplinary teams and jointly product business plans that are eligible for submitting to a business plan competition or presented to potential venture capitalists.

Students have to clearly show that they are capable of understanding theories, concepts and methods in science-based entrepreneurship and innovation management and link this knowledge to (1) issues in developing and commercializing innovations in the biotech industry and (2) building a business plan.

The type of exam is an oral (closed-book) exam on the basis of a group mini project (business plan for commercializing an innovation that has recently grown out of research from DTU, LIFE or Novozymes). The mini project (business plan) is written in parallel with the course and must be submitted one week after the last class session. The performance assessment of the exam will be based on the following criteria:

Several factors necessitate size restrictions for this course to 30 students, 15 of which will come from CBS. Besides the official CBS course enrollment, admission to the course therefore is by application, to be submitted no later than May 18th to www.bbip.dk or to Project Manager Denice Florvall Müller ( defm@bio.dtu.dk). Your application should include 1) Short Motivational essay. 2) Grades (both bachelor and master level). 3) Curriculum vitae. 4) Description of project (if available). 5) Recommendation (if available). Your application will be responded to no later than June 1st.