Australasian mentorship for biotech entrepreneurs

Speaking at BIO 2005 in Philadelphia, Victorian innovation minister John Brumby has announced the roll out of the state government's Biotechnology Entrepreneur Program across Australia and New Zealand.

Developed in 2003, the program has sponsored more than 300 post-graduate biotechnology students, and in 2005 the Victorian government allocated a further 20 teams nearly AUD$100,000.

"The program gives our future biotechnology leaders on-the-job training to develop entrepreneurial and commercialisation skills needed to succeed in the industry," said Brumby in a statement.

The Australia-New Zealand Biotech Alliance (ANZBA) has agreed to more broadly adopt the program, which involved more than 140 students from 14 institutes and universities in 2004. The students develop and market biotechnology products with local companies with shareholder dividends ranging from two per cent to nearly 1400 per cent.

In 2004, one of the winning biotechnology companies, Byatech, was established by University of Melbourne students under the Young Achievement Australia Business Skills Program. The students designed and implemented the product LabSafe -- a safety training and software package for medical research -- which they sold to the Australian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety for AUD$15,000.

ANZBA members have also agreed to host an international life sciences investment forum similar to the Institutional Life Science Forum held in London in November 2004 and recently announced that work is underway for the Northern Territory to join the ANZBA.