About BioPharma Management Initiative

 

Mission

The College of Management’s Initiative in BioPharma Management will provide the education and experiential platform for acquiring the skill sets necessary for effective management of the biopharma industries.

Background

NC State University’s BioPharma Management Initiative was established to provide management education and resources for professionals working in all the industries impacted by biotechnology. Arguably the most important technology of the next 20 years is biotechnology. “Biotechnology” is used to describe an ever expanding set of tools originally developed in academia and now applied to product development.

Biotechnology is a classic example of a ‘disruptive technology’ as defined by Clay Christensen in his book ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma’ – it is a technology that is displacing dominant existing technology. By 2007, this disruption is virtually complete for the healthcare industry (i.e. drugs, devices, diagnostics and vaccines), and is ongoing for such industries as agriculture, nutrition, and industrial products. We use the term BioPharma to refer to all of these industries being impacted by the tools of biotech.

The Research Triangle Park (RTP) area is playing a major role in these industries. It is largest life science park and the 3rd ranked life science cluster in the US. The greater RTP area is home to $1.5 billion in life sciences research funds/yr. It is 3rd ranked in number of life sciences companies (528 in 2006) and in total number of life scientists (29,000 in 2006).

The area is ranked number one in the nation in 2005 for its biotech workforce and its human capital; number two for business and careers (2006), and number three for entrepreneurs (2006; number one in 2005). RTP is the 3rd ranked agriculture biotech area in the USA (2006).

BioPharma is complex, ambiguous, fast-evolving, highly entrepreneurial, science-driven, expensive and ethically-charged. These industries require specially trained management in order to compete and grow effectively. The new leaders and innovators of these industries need to be cognizant of, and sometime fluent in biotechnology; importantly, they need to understand how these technologies impact traditional business models.

Managers in these industries must understand the connections between and among all areas of the BioPharma industry; including, customer identification and quantification, alliance creation, regulatory processes, entrepreneurship, unique capital markets, supply-side economics, intellectual property management, in addition to its ever-growing cutting-edge technologies.

The NC State College of Management’s BioPharma Management Initiative is building curricula that provide technology and business students the skill sets they will need to manage effectively in this critical set of industries.

The BioPharma Management Initiative also supports the Annual BioPharma Forums. These meetings provide a venue where key industry leaders discuss real management issues with students, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and relevant support personnel. The Third Annual BioPharma Forum will be held on Friday, October 26, 2007 at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park, NC.