Innovative pharmaceuticals and biotechnology: personnel training
MIPT will train "Startup CEOs" in the field of Life ScienceBFC "Severny"
By the beginning of the 65th anniversary academic year at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT, Dolgoprudny, Moscow region)
A new department "Innovative Pharmacy and Biotechnology" (IFB) has been opened, organized specifically for the training of innovative entrepreneurs in the field of Life Science – "living systems". Scientific and practical work will be carried out on the basis of the organizations of the Biopharmaceutical cluster "Severny". The management of the department was assumed by the Doctor of Technical Sciences A. A. Ivashchenko, who is also the chairman of the Board of Directors of the NP Center for High Technologies "HimRar".
The first "experimental" platform for students of the department were startups of the Agama and HimRar groups of companies. So, in June 2011, students of Innotryada-2011, who graduated from the MIPT pilot course "Innovative Entrepreneurship for the "real violent", were accepted for a summer internship in operating businesses. Young specialists had the opportunity to try themselves as entrepreneurs in specific innovative high-tech projects for three months. The tasks set by the heads of departments required not only a detailed study and understanding of the essence of the project, but also entrepreneurial ideas and the manifestation of business initiative. The famous "phys tech system", which develops conditions and the constant desire of talented scientific youth for development and improvement, helped all trainees to successfully cope with difficulties and complete tasks.
At the end of the internship, many received an offer to continue working in those startups where they had interned. Those of them who are still continuing their studies at MIPT and see their future in the field of technological entrepreneurship will be given the opportunity to transfer to the Department of Innovative Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology of the FMBF.
The development plan of the department for 2011-2012 provides for the creation of up to 10 corporate laboratories on the basis of MIPT together with the participating organizations of the BFC "Severny", where students of the department will conduct research and implementation work. The main difference of the new department is the preparation of students within the framework of current innovative business projects of Biopharmaceutical organizations. Theoretical courses will be combined with practical classes and internships in project companies, lectures and master classes will be conducted by leading experts in this field, including specially invited top managers and co-owners of Russian and international high–tech companies. Recruitment of students to the department is carried out for 4th and 5th year students – bachelor's and master's degrees, respectively.
Rector of MIPT, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor N. N. Kudryavtsev: "The field of living systems will develop intensively in the coming decades. This area of employment is very promising for current graduates. Our task is to create the most favorable conditions for their professional and creative growth, and the Biofarm Cluster gives us a very powerful tool. The creation of the Biopharmaceutical Cluster department at MIPT makes it possible to prepare students not only to conduct scientific research in the field of living systems, but also to organize a full cycle of pharmaceutical product development, including the selection of interesting projects, the creation of small enterprises, their integration into a business incubator (which will soon work at MIPT), and the search for funding. The established connections with the participants of the Biopharmaceutical Cluster will allow us to offer graduates good jobs in their specialty."
The head of the Department of IFB, Deputy chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Biopharmaceutical Cluster "Severny" A. A. Ivashchenko noted: "I was struck that after an internship this summer in our startups, more than 90% of the guys received an invitation from our managers to go to work for them. Considering that we selected not scientists, but first of all potential innovative entrepreneurs – the result is impressive. It turns out that the system of selection of undergraduates inclined to such activities, created jointly with Sergey Chernyshev (author of the course "Innovative entrepreneurship for the "real violent""), worked. And this is very important, because if we do not learn how to select and train future technological entrepreneurs, then there will be no one to create small university enterprises, and if there are no such enterprises, there will be no interface between science and business, respectively, innovative development in our country will not begin. But it seems that "the problem has a solution", and this has been demonstrated in practice. Therefore, we are launching a new training module on innovative entrepreneurship at MIPT, which is already being joined by high-tech corporations and development institutions. Follow the ads"!
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.09.2011