80 executives sharpen business development skills at BIO-Europe
Working one-to-one, working in groups to close a deal. If it sounds like the world of business development, that’s because the 80 executives who completed an intensive Advanced Business Development Course in Heidelberg spent three days recreating problems and then solving them for successful outcomes.
Before reading more, stop and mark your calendar for Oct 30, 2009 in Vienna, Austria when the next development course will be held in the days preceding the next BIO-Europe conference. Better yet, mark the calendar of your colleagues who would benefit from hands-on, advanced training from veteran business development professionals and legal advisers using real world case studies.
Since 2004, this course has been taught exclusively for life science business development professionals by the Biotechnology Industry Organization in collaboration with EBD Group. There was a waiting list for this year’s course as participation is strictly limited to 80 participants.
“It’s meant to keep the right balance between instructors and course participants,” explained Martina Rannertshauser with the EBD Group, “but also so participants can get the most out of the work groups and one-to-one exercises.”
Participation by European executives was up 85%, she reported, including a 20-person delegation from the Netherlands and seven people from Spain. “This year we saw a lot more people who are involved in tech transfer activities,” said Lesley Stolz, a Vice President with Sunesis Pharmaceuticals and who is an instructor for negotiation techniques, taking participants through case studies on due diligence and managing the process.
“These people were both academics and executives from government sponsored institutions working in university-to-industry transfers, their participation recognizes that that scientists may really know their science but that this is not always enough once they enter the world of business,” she said.
The program actually began in Heidelberg on Thursday evening, Nov. 14 with an evening welcome reception and registration at the Der Europaeische Hof.
Then three solid days of work followed over the weekend. Friday the focus was on Valuation, Saturday was divided between Negotiation Strategies and Intellectual Property, and Sunday was all about Contracts.
Case studies are a fundamental part of the program, and Stolz said this year’s group was the most motivated she has seen in recent years working late into the evenings together in groups at restaurants and bars to work through the details.
Sounds a little like the real world of business development in life sciences.
For more information about the course planned for Vienna in 2009, or to reserve a place for you and your colleagues, please contact mrannertshauser@ebdgroup.com.
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