Last year I had an incredible opportunity to be part of a startup challenge competition in partnership with the National Cancer Institute and funded by the Avon Foundation and The Center for Advancing Innovation. It was a competition based on promising breast cancer technologies selected from approximately 5000 patents.
Our team consisted of postdocs and lab technicians with various areas and years of experience; cellular signaling, animal surgery, cell arrest, molecular training and business plan writing. This was exactly the type of entrepreneurship experience I was looking for when I was a graduate student.
There were several teams from various institutions across the country, the teams ranged in size, age, training, experience and educational background. The competition provided a perfect arena for scientific interests to collaboratively and creatively commercialize a product that could effectively enhance or replace current screening, detection and/or prognostic technologies. Our team was excited to meet each week to discuss our strategy. Yes, there was a financial incentive for the winning team. There was a wealth of support throughout this competition that was facilitated by Rosemarie Truman, founder and CEO of The Center for Advancing Innovation.
We believe this challenge provided an invaluable experience that is unable to be replicated by any other possible course or business plan challenge.
Our team consisted of postdocs and lab technicians with various areas and years of experience; cellular signaling, animal surgery, cell arrest, molecular training and business plan writing. This was exactly the type of entrepreneurship experience I was looking for when I was a graduate student.
There were several teams from various institutions across the country, the teams ranged in size, age, training, experience and educational background. The competition provided a perfect arena for scientific interests to collaboratively and creatively commercialize a product that could effectively enhance or replace current screening, detection and/or prognostic technologies. Our team was excited to meet each week to discuss our strategy. Yes, there was a financial incentive for the winning team. There was a wealth of support throughout this competition that was facilitated by Rosemarie Truman, founder and CEO of The Center for Advancing Innovation.
We believe this challenge provided an invaluable experience that is unable to be replicated by any other possible course or business plan challenge.
- B. Guillory, Baylor College of Medicine
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