Abstract
Biotechnology entrepreneurship is important for bringing beneficial scientific discoveries to the awareness and use of society. Although iGEM is an open source competition that does not in itself focus on business creation, it begs to question what the possibilities could be if it did. Entrepreneurship uses the market to find a problem and solve it. By using business methods as a scaling method, biotechnology can provide solutions for a larger variety of problems and to a greater number of people. In sum, biotech entrepreneurship is a mechanism for spreading good ideas and making useful products available to those that need them.
Furthermore, understanding enabling factors in biotech entrepreneurship can help bring awareness to biotech and promote entrepreneurship for iGEM participants and scientists everywhere. Therefore, the aim of this research is to establish the most significant enabling factors in relation to biotech and synthetic biology (SynBio). From there, future steps can be made to promote entrepreneurship in the scientific realm.
The analysis will begin with a presentation of the hypothesis, research model and objectives. The next sections provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the research. The concluding sections involve a list of suggestions and next-steps on how the data can be used for entrepreneurship.
Research Question, Research Objective and Research Design
Our theory holds that if certain enabling factors exist for biotech business creation and success, then biotech businesses will be founded. If this is true, then further research is needed to understand the enabling factors in biotech entrepreneurship in order to further promote its success. We assume that the factors that facilitate business creation and biotech innovation also extend to the realm of biotech entrepreneurship.
Research Objective 1: Establishing a theoretically grounded framework to understand the enabling factors that facilitate entrepreneurship in biotechnology.
Research Objective 2: Substantiate the theoretical framework and investigate the motives, barriers and decision criteria that leads to business creation in biotechnology and SynBio.
Research Objective 3: Establish the most important factors that lead to or prevent business creation in biotechnology and synthetic biology within the context of iGEM.
Research Model
To answer the objectives, this research draws on a combined multi-method empirical study, linking a qualitative and quantitative approach to understand entrepreneurship in biotechnology and SynBio. By combining qualitative and quantitative data, the research benefits from the advantages of both approaches. Qualitative data can capture the causal process of a certain phenomenon and substantiate the hypothesis derived from literature in order to answer research questions behind the enabling factors in biotechnology entrepreneurship (Eisenhardt 1989, Eisenhardt and Graebner 2007, Miles and Huberman 1994, Yin 1984). On the other hand, quantitative data allows testing on a large scale as a greater spectrum of observations can be tested. This strategic combination will create a better understanding of significant factors in biotech entrepreneurship.
The next sections will establish 1) the background research used to develop the theory and structure the data collection, including literature and advising, 2) a qualitative research approach, 3) a quantitative research approach, 4) an analysis of the combined qualitative and quantitative data, a 5) a conclusion and discussion regarding enabling factors in biotech plus 6) suggestions for the biotech industry and iGEM to enable more scientists to found a company.
- MODEL 1: Research Model**
Literature analysis
A number of papers and books related to entrepreneurship and biotechnology were reviewed to design the survey and interview guidelines. The main literature sources include:
Literature |
Description |
Engel, Jerome S. Global Clusters of Innovation: Entrepreneurial Engines of Economic Growth around the World. 2014 |
An in-depth review and description of various entrepreneurship ecosystems around the world, as well as the enabling factors that allow startup success. |
Steinmetz, Max. Success Factors of Startups from the Founders Perspective. 2011 |
Research on success factors of startups from the point of view of business founders. |
Kananen, Johannes. Success factors of Start-up companies from the investors’ perspective. 2011 |
Research on success factors of startups from the point of view of investors. |
Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice: “Where science comes to life: University bioscience, commercial spin‐offs, and regional economic development” 2014 |
Biotech entrepreneurship, university spin-offs and how they are created. |
From these sources, 11 main paradigms were established to distinguish enabling factors relevant to business creation. These paradigms cover most important influences on business creation.
Table 1: Paradigms of Entrepreneurship |
|
Team |
Entrepreneurial experience, background, education, team spirit, risk-taking, team functionality |
Product/Project |
Characteristics of the product/project, prototyping, proof of concept, marketability of product |
Academic Mentorship |
Mentorship related to project creation, advising in biotech and in entrepreneurship, access to information, knowledge exchange, technology transfer, collaboration |
Entrepreneurial Mentorship |
Access to personal network of contacts/business angels, venture capitalists |
Access to Resources and Product Development |
Material and laboratory access, quality of test environment |
Access to Customer Feedback |
Access to feedback by potential users and customers of the product |
Access to Financial Support |
Funding via venture capitalists, accelerators, research funds, banks, university support, etc. |
Access to Legal Advice |
Advising for patenting or legal issues |
Unique Market Opportunity and Access |
Market characteristics (market competition, industry life cycle), timing of product, partners in the industry, etc. |
Environment |
Cluster for entrepreneurship and/or biotechnology, political/regulation situation |
Founder |
Characteristics of entrepreneurs, more specifically, their abilities and skills, personal motivation, vision, gender, education and work experience. *It should be noted that most of our analysis is on a “team” basis with less focus on individual founder characteristic, therefore, enabling factors related to individual characteristics are omitted in this study. |
(Steinmetz 2011, Kananen 2011, Engel 2014)
Advising
Once the paradigms of important factors were established for entrepreneurship, experts in biotech and entrepreneurship were contacted for further consultation. The advisors included academic advisors and professors in synthetic biology, representatives of BioM (the biotech cluster in Munich, Germany), entrepreneurial advisors from the startup accelerator TechFounders and current and past participants of iGEM. All of these advisors contributed to the research methodology as well as the quantitative survey and qualitative interview design.
Research Approach
First, 11 of qualitative interviews were held to better understand the factors that affected Founders and non-Founders from the iGEM population. Second, a quantitative survey was designed to analyze the significance of different variables in business creation in biotech (specifically in iGEM). From the survey a statistical analysis was performed to measure the degree to which the variables affected founding a business.
The survey analyzes current and past iGEM participants, who are working in relatively the same, with similar education levels, time frames and resources.
Potential Limitations of the Data
Although the sample size (n = 140) is decent for data analysis, a larger sample size could potentially provide better results. Furthermore, as there were only a handful of business founded from iGEM (less than 20), the sample size of Founders from iGEM remains small due to this limitation. However, this only strengthens the reasoning for conducting research on this topic, to understand why so few teams have founded businesses and what can be improved to make it more common in the future.
Qualitative Data Approach
For the qualitative data, 11 past iGEM participants were interviewed, 4 of which founded a business (Founders) and 7 who had not (non-Founders). The goal of the interviews was to understand the Founders/non-Founders decision process and the factors that influenced or barred the way to business founding. The chapter is organized 1) a list of interviews with Founders, 2) a table of the core questions and responses from the Founders, 3) a list of interviews with non-Founders and 4) a table of the core questions and responses from the non-Founders.
Founder Interviews
TABLE 2: LIST OF FOUNDERS INTERVIEWED |
|||
INTERVIEWEE |
COMPANY |
UNIVERSITY/IGEM YEAR |
INTERVIEW DATE |
Cindy Wu |
Experiment |
U. Washington 2010 and 2011 |
September 13th, 2016 |
Danny Cabrera |
BioBots |
U. Pennsylvania |
September 20th, 2016 |
David Lloyd |
FredSense |
U. of Alberta, U. of Calgary |
September 20th, 2016 |
Eva-Maria/ |
Gene Advisor |
Edinburgh 2006 |
September 15th, 2016 |
The following table gives a snapshot of the core questions the Founder interviews sought to establish: 1) what are the enabling factors for founding a company, 2) were there adequate resources, including enough time, advising and funding to build a company, and 3) was there any knowledge or technology exchange or support from related industries.
TABLE 3: CORE QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FROM FOUNDERS |
||||
Interviewee |
What were the main reasons for founding a company? |
Did you have adequate resources? (tools, academic advising, entrepreneurship advising, time, funding) |
Did you have knowledge or technology exchange with industry members? Were you in a biotech cluster? |
Other comments on entrepreneurship in biotechnology/ synthetic biology? |
Cindy Wu |
The proof of concept at iGEM and in general was successful Initially the idea was a solution to fix their own problem Accelerators and investors were supportive |
Had adequate funding from the university during iGEM After iGEM, had very low funding until joining Y-Combinator, an accelerator in San Francisco Raised money from investors A lot of mentorship, but not business mentorship until after iGEM |
Yes. Lots of help with many CEOs, founders, universities Mentors and alumni from Y- Combinator |
At the beginning, had no business, website, sales experience. However, they were able to develop and entire project and eventually a startup from scratch and learning everything new. iGEM was definitely an enabling factor Their advantage with earning investors trust was their huge vision for their product Almost did a PhD, but glad she did not so she could do her business |
David Lloyd |
Grant funding from Deep Starter, a program for SynBio companies Good team, smart people |
Yes, enough resources and funding A lot of entrepreneurial/business advising |
Yes, a ton of knowledge exchange, less technology exchange |
iGEM was definitely an enabling factor |
Danny Cabrera |
Good business opportunity More influence founding a business than academia – ended up deferring PhD Good mentorship Funding from DreamitHealth accelerator |
Yes, very good advising in academia and business |
No, not really |
Today it is much cheaper to do biotechnology than ever before, and in some ways the barriers are much lower |
Eva-Maria/Jelena Aleksic |
Research and access to high tech, plus a good idea of a market need Industry knowledge exchange |
Not enough funding. Took bank loans to support the project |
Yes, from the Accelerate Cambridge program, the industrial community and the academic region |
The business did not really take off until finishing their PhD’s. But once they did, they switched to the business side and founded a startup. |
Analysis and Discussion of Founder Interviews
Table 4: Most Prominent Reasons for Founding a Business
Knowledge Exchange with Industry Members |
Entrepreneurship consulting |
Funding from external parties (accelerators, banks, sponsors) |
Passion to solve a problem |
Having a Quality Team |
Deferring or Finishing Academic Studies |
The Founder interviews had many similarities and differences in their stories behind business creation. While none of the reasons mentioned in Table 4 are not necessarily more significant than others, there is a general trend. First, the teams all shared a similarity of being highly ambitious in finding funding through external sources (accelerators, banks, sponsors), as well as having a large passion for their projects, sometimes even deferring their studies. Second, the teams expressed having a quality team was useful for a successful business. Third, the teams differed slightly on how much knowledge exchange they had with industry partners during their iGEM; however, once business creation became an idea the teams heavily sought out expert advising in entrepreneurship and from industry experts. Interestingly, some of the teams were not aware of their product’s advantage until later in iGEM and many had no idea about the market characteristics until they sought out industry/entrepreneurship consulting. Overall, the storyline seems that the iGEM teams found a useful idea, developed it during iGEM with quality mentorship, came to find that they required more funding and business advising to make the product viable and worked hard to secure resources to found a startup.
The Founders also gave their thoughts in regards to entrepreneurship in biotech, suggesting that 1) today it is easier than ever before to found a biotech company, because funding and resources are much more accessible and 2) iGEM is definitely an enabling factor. These suggestions will be discussed later on in the “Suggestions and Conclusion” section.
It is important to have both sides of the story. Therefore, the next section is a list of the interviews with non-Founders and the reasons they did not found a business from their iGEM projects.
Non-Founder Interviews
TABLE 5: LIST OF INTERVIEWS WITH NONFOUNDERS
INTERVIEWEE |
UNIVERSITY/YEAR AT IGEM |
DATE INTERVIEWED |
Axel Uran |
EPFL 2015 |
September 20th, 2016 |
Nikolaus Huwiler |
EPFL 2014 |
September 20th, 2016 |
Linnea Österber |
KTH Royal Institute of Technology 2015 |
October 4th, 2016 |
Fernando Contreras |
IGEM Sand Diego 2014 |
October 5th, 2016 |
Fabian Rohden |
TU Darmstadt 2014 and 2015 |
October 4th, 2016 |
Fernando Contreras |
U. of California San Diego, 2014 and 2015 |
October 5, 2016 |
Nicolas Krink |
iGEM Paris 2013, iGEM Freiburg iGEM 2014, Marbough 2015, iGEM Dusseldorf 2016 |
October 4th, 2016 |
TABLE 6: CORE QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FROM NONFOUNDERS
Interviewee |
What were the main reasons for not founding a company? |
Did you have adequate resources? (tools, advising, time, funding) |
Did you have knowledge or technology exchange with industry members? |
Other comments on entrepreneurship in biotechnology/ synthetic biology? |
Axel Uran |
Lack of time Studies were in the way Lack of motivation Lack of advising for a startup |
Adequate advising Adequate funding Adequate tools and lab space |
No, not really |
Many investors would love to fund great ideas, and there is so much opportunity in biotech/SynBio Establish an entrepreneurship incentive/track in iGEM iGEM could invite investors to the Jamboree Studies get in the way of founding a business |
Niklaus Huwiler |
Lack of time Studies Not a priority |
Lack of time Lack of advising |
No, not really More interaction with laboratories |
iGEM is great for networking Too short on time for founding a business |
Linnea Österber |
Did not have any interest Research oriented Probably not even applicable as a business |
No, lack of resources and funding Borrowed lab equipment |
No, not really |
There was a lack of business spirit and interest |
Fernando Contreras |
Lack of time Studies in the way There was not a lot of effort put into the business side |
Yes, enough funding Decent resources and advising |
Yes, there was monetary and material support, as well as sponsorship from industry members |
There needs to be more interaction with the industry, either for startup possibilities and/or even potential job opportunities Have iGEM participants focus on solving a real need, fewer “flimsy” projects |
Fabian Rohden |
Did not have a viable business concept The project was already being done essentially by companies No incentive to patent |
Yes, a lot of support for funding and mentorship |
Yes, a lot of knowledge exchange |
Some of the iGEM ideas are not possible to market iGEM participants should focus on solving real problems |
Nicolas Krink |
Studies were in the way Lack of time |
Yes, we had adequate funding and resources throughout all the teams. Occasional lack of good advising Lack of incentive for many advisors to help in iGEM |
No |
Germany is lacking a hotspot for biotech and Synbio. There is a lack of resources and lab space with adequate advising to realize projects Biology and life science students are not trained to think entrepreneurially |