Student entrepreneurs scoop award pool

A team of 12 students from the Bio21 and Howard Florey Institutes scooped the pool at an awards ceremony held last week in Melbourne for the 2005 Young Achievers Australia Biotechnology Entrepreneur program.

The students' company Scyance returned a massive 1400 per cent to shareholders from sales of its Biology Bandits kit which contained 25 biology experiments, a DVD and comic book for children aged eight to twelve.

Scyance received awards from for Biotechnology Company of the Year, Best Community and Environment, Best Annual Report and Best Business Plan as well as being runner-up for Best Media Promotion and Marketing and Most Innovative Product or Service.

In presenting the awards Victorian innovation minister John Brumby said that the YAA program is fantastic.

"The standard and quality of products developed is first rate," he said "We're all believers in biotechnology and nanotechnology and what it can do for our economy and the benefits it can provide to our health and lifestyle."

The entrepreneur program required teams of university students to establish and register a company, develop and then sell a biotechnology or nanotechnology related product, all within a 24-week program. The companies raise start-up capital by selling $2 shares, with a limit of $1,000. Business, industry and technical mentors were provided to the teams to help them navigate their way through the process.

The program was piloted in Victoria in 2003 and other states such as NSW, WA and the ACT are looking to adopt the program, said Brumby. "We will be supporting the program again next year," he said.

While at least three of the companies have reformed so they can continue to commercialise their products, winning company Scyance, sold its product to educational toy manufacturer Science and Nature.

"The whole experience has been really great for anyone who wants to commercialise products in the future," said Scyance managing director Ben Atcliffe.

Another company formed was Bio-Ideyas which won the Best Media Promotion and Marketing award for the promotion of its product Basically Stem Cells -- an educational CD package for Victorian school students. Prue Cowin, managing director of Bio-Ideyas, said that the program had taught her a lot about time management, communicating with different people, networking, and insights into business.

"It's opened my eyes up to different areas," said Cowin, "As opposed to just going into a post doc after my PhD."

Zenya Tech won the Most Innovative Product or Service award for its crime scene investigation kit for children aged 7 to 12 with a range of activities including fingerprinting, foot print casting, pH universal kits and an information book. "I've always liked the potential of the commercial side of science," said Zenya Tech managing director Amabel Tan. "I'm from a research background and it definitely made me think about selling our product, not just thinking about getting the science right."

The inaugural Nanotechnology Company of the Year award went to Qyantek, where students from RMIT and the University of Melbourne produced safety stickers for nanotechnology products in laboratories. Brumby said that there are currently no nanotechnology labels developed and Qyantek addressed this gap.