innovating across borders

Innovating Across BordersYali Friedman, Ph.D.

[email protected] ▪ www.thinkBiotech.com

Innovation Across Borders


Location matters• Workforce cost, availability• Access to skilled management,

supportive services• Proximity to innovative science and

markets

Who is doing what, where?How can you leverage synergistic or

arbitrage opportunities?

Measuring Biotechnology Productivity


Scientific American worldView ’09www.saworldview.com

Measuring Biotechnology Performance


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Innovation is Localized


North / South Korea

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San Diego - Tijuana

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Medicon Valley


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European Multi-National Clusters

Pre-Existing StrengthsMedicon Valley• 1993 report:

– Home to 60% of Scandinavian pharmaceutical companies

– ranked third in Europe on the basis of number of medical publications by researchers in the region

– Medicon Valley Academy established in 1997

BioValley• Houses operations of 40% of the world’s

pharmaceutical industry• Almost 400 biotechnology companies and more than

150 academic or public institutions. 15,000 scientists and 70,000 students

• One of the top three densest European bioregions• BioValley concept originated in 1973, not acted

upon until [email protected] ▪ www.thinkBiotech.com

Funding Systems Provide Incentives

INTERREG funding• Initiated by the European Commission in 1990• Support regional, cross-border activities

especially in the fields of business, science, culture and tourism

• Medicon Valley received INTERREG funding • BioValley received €4.6M in two rounds of

INTERREG funding

Interreg funding provided incentives to tap existing strengths

• There are no US federal systems driving multi-state initiatives

• Find regional synergies and focus on logical incentives


Most regions in the US are struggling

to develop biotechnologyAction is focused in Northeast and Southwest• California’s economy is larger than most

countries• California and Boston are home to some of the

best schools in the world

Most schools are ineffective at commercializing their technologies

Central and southern USA suffer from:• Brain drain• Lack of R&D and venture funding• Lack of management expertise


Most regions in the US are struggling

to develop biotechnology


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Beyond Borders: The Global Biotechnology Report 2006. Ernst & Young, 2006

Building clusters is more than drawing circles


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Hybritech: Creative Destruction

RTP: Creative Creation

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GWI: DC as a neutral facilitator


Offices in Washington, DC

MD: NIH, NCI, APL, JHUVA: CIA, Pentagon,

Fortune 500 HQs

Why would either state’s stakeholders support each other?

• DC is a mutually non-competing facilitator

Toronto/Buffalo/Rochester: A one-legged stool

Tor-Buff-ChesterEconomic Output:

$530bnPopulation: 22 million

Why would Canada’s economic capital do business in Buffalo or Rochester?


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The Spirit of Ontario is now the Sprit of Spain


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Medicon Valley: Fratercide• A union of two peers provides little

incentive for collaboration• Anecdotal reports suggest that the

two regions actively compete for foreign investments, etc.

• There are bi-national Ph.D. and post-doc programs


BioValley: A Partnership of Specialists

Rotating presidency


BioValley: Recognizing Relative Strengths


http://www.biovalley.ch/files/documents/BioValley_Cluster_Analysis_Final_Summary_18.10.04.pdf

Vertical CooperationBioTech SYSTEM:

biotechsystem.ucdavis.edu• Promote biotech training,

educational and mentoring programs across N. California

• Partners include UC Davis, Solano Community College, Vacaville High School– Co-organizing and fundraising for Teen

Biotech Challenge– Website for education, training, and

mentoring opportunities– Career fairs– Teacher tours of local biotech companies


Horizontal CooperationAustin Biotech Workforce Education

Consortium awarded grant to expand and enhance biotechnical educational offerings at Austin Community College

• ACC departments of electronics, biotechnology, and medical laboratory, Greater Austin Area Workforce Board, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, area employers

• Overseen by University of Texas Ray Marshall Center

• Share space, faculty, resources to provide interdisciplinary training


Support Organizationswww.bio-link.org and

www.biomanufacturing.org• NSF-supported• Develop and share instructional resources• Advice on establishing and running CC-

based biotechnology and biomanufacturing programs

The Biotechnology Institute www.biotechinstitute.org

• “to engage, excite, and educate the public, particularly young people, about the promise and achievements of biotechnology”


DVIN: Choose Your Own Adventure

• What are the collective opportunities?

• What are the individual specialties?

• Are there opportunities for greater-than-additive unions?

• Does it make sense for one region to lead the partnership or should it be a shared, or rotating, [email protected] ▪ www.thinkBiotech.com

Innovation is Improvisation

If you hit a wrong note, it's the next note that you play that determines if it's good or bad.

Miles Davis

Yali Friedman – [email protected]

innovating across borders

Business

scientific american

global biotechnology

ernst young