The workshop will elaborate on the processes and practices of entrepreneurs and managers to exploit scientific knowledge and turn it into successful businesses, drawing on first hand empirical insights from major biotech ventures.

First, Prof. Bernhard Witholt of the ETH Zurich will talk about the “evolution of university strategies in developing high-tech companies in Europe” focusing on the financial aspects and challenges involved in the spin-out of ventures from university from the perspective of a leading polytechnical university. Prof. Witholt will deliver insights into his own experiences as the director of the Institute of Biotechnology and into the distinct cases of companies that have been spin-out of his institute like Cytos and Glycart.

Second, Marcos García Pedraza will present key findings from his dissertation project with four Swiss biomedical companies, namely Actelion, Arpida, Prionics and The Genetics Company. Marcos’ research is led by the research question, how nascent firms in the biomedical industry translate life sciences into business capabilities. His findings present the role of the entrepreneur and the process of developing strategic business capabilities in the context of life science and technological innovation which is characterized by inherent uncertainties and discontinuities.

Third, Florian Bertram will talk about his recent research project on the routinization of strategy formation in new ventures. He will emphasize that the routinization of strategy formation takes place through different organizational learning mechanisms and that those distinct mechanisms have an impact on the resulting strategy. Those effects are supposed to be of high relevance in the context of biotechnology, due to the high degree of newness, uncertainty which makes learning from experience inherently difficult.

Resources

Workshop Program
Reader (password required)