Workshop (CST-2) on Patenting and Commercialization in Biotech held by Ventac Partners

All the ESRs had the great opportunity to attend a two-day workshop on Patenting and Commercialising Novel Biomedical Inventions held by Ventac Partners. Dr. Kostas Alevizopoulos and Dr. Neil Thomas brought the ESRs to the patent world, dealing with drawing up of a business plan, request for a patent and negotiation with investors for funding.

The topics of the course included all the steps required for the building of a start-up, starting from the development of a brilliant idea, exploration of the market, building of a financial model and a business plan. The ESRs enriched their knowledge on what a patent is, why it is important, what a patentable invention is, how patents are obtained and how long they last. Furthermore, they learnt what the Intellectual Properties Rights (IPRs) are, how to develop an IP strategy to accelerate the process and to safeguard IP assets, correct transfer of patent rights, mastering freedom to operate in the Biotech/MedTech industry, patent infringement, litigation and enforcement. In addition, they faced licensing models, term sheets, negotiation strategies and what an Elevator Pitch is.

This course was very informative for our ESRs; indeed, during the course, ESRs had the opportunity to work in groups on the development of a business plan regarding a new technology and including patenting options, freedom to operate position, bullet-point business plan, competitors, risks and hopes for the future. Additionally, ESRs dealt with the negotiation with a potential university for IP rights, performing in the end an elevator pitch in order to convince the investors to fund their project. During the work in groups, the students were tested for their creativity and determination to face all the problems that a patent can reserve.