IDG Life Sciences to launch new magazine

October marks the culmination of our plans to develop a comprehensive suite of life science media products for the Australian market place. Australian Biotechnology News is now well entrenched as the newspaper of choice for local biotechnology leaders. And our acquisition of Today's Life Science has given us great depth across the sector.

In four weeks' time we will launch Australian Life Scientist, a new monthly magazine for readers of Australian Biotechnology News and Today's Life Science.

Whereas Australian Biotechnology News is dedicated to the commercialisation of local life science, Australian Life Scientist is unreservedly a publication about Australian research and Australian researchers.

As a subscriber to Australian Biotechnology News you will automatically receive this new publication in addition to your weekly newspaper.

Other readers, and we will launch with a circulation of 8000, will need to qualify to receive the magazine, or buy a subscription to guarantee they receive it each month.

The launch of Australian Life Scientist also brings to a finale the three-year business development cycle for IDG's Life Sciences Group. We have achieved our key strategic goal of market leadership and more importantly our business is now self-sustaining.

We are enormously proud of the work we have done, and how far we have come in such a short time. Australian Biotechnology News is now part of the landscape. It has also become an important channel for international partners and investors.

At the BIO2002 and 2003 shows in Toronto and Washington, no other country had the benefit of a vibrant private enterprise promoting the successes of its local sector to an international audience. It is a unique comparative advantage.

On a more personal note, the completion of the business development cycle also means that my work is ending. Ten years observing the tech sector up close and personal, first in IT and now in biotech, have convinced me that the right person to take the business to $1 million is not always the best person to take it to $10 million.

So in November it will be time for the entrepreneur to pull up stumps, and for the shiny suits and the salesmen to take over. My wife and I are returning to Queensland after a decade in Sydney. My five years as an accidental executive have allowed us the brief luxury of spending a few months conducting our own important research -- a close observational review of our 14-month-old son and, hopefully in the future, some comparative sibling studies.

Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the launch and growth of this exciting business - firstly, to my boss in Australia, and his boss in Boston, thank you for investing in this important and exciting market.

Several editorial board members have provided service above and beyond the call. Peter Andrews, Tim Littlejohn, Shirley Lanning, John Martin and Merilyn Sleigh have offered me important insights into a sector I knew nothing about three years ago.

Also, while all our advertisers are dear to me and my bank manager, I am going to break a cardinal rule by singling four out in particular -- Beckman Coulter, IBM, EMC and Brooker Consulting. When we began the journey these companies took a chance by investing their marketing dollars not just in a new magazine, but also in a completely new idea -- a weekly biotechnology newspaper. I am proud to say that throughout my watch we devoted all our efforts to repaying their faith.

And finally to you, all the subscribers to the first publication I ever built from scratch -- Australian Biotechnology News. Without your support we would fail. We were relieved when you subscribed in our first year, but we were gratified when you renewed in the second -- smashing all previous IDG Australia records for subscriber retention.

The Australian life sciences sector looks increasingly vibrant, bigger deals are flowing again and investors are returning. Good luck -- but you won't need it. Hard work, great science and rat-cunning will get you home!

Andrew_Birmingham@idg.com.au Vice-President, IDG Life Sciences Group