What can be achieved in a week when a top world-class biopharmaceutical company and a student organisation at one of the best universities in the world at its doorstep come together? You will be given full points, even if you took a hint from the article title, if you guessed it’s a hugely successful open innovation event. This was exactly what happened when MedImmune Ltd and the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC) came together to organise a week-long open innovation event. It was the first of its kind in Cambridge and it kicked off on March 9, 2011 at the Cambridge University’s Department of Engineering.
The experiment was simple – MedImmune asked eight challenging questions they wanted ideas to tackle them covering a range of areas from science to business. University students and scientists worked on the questions in eight teams to come up with ideas and presented it in front of a judging panel consisting of senior leaders from MedImmune at the closing event a week later. Both MedImmune and CUTEC were enormously satisfied with the results of this experiment. MedImmune went away with ideas they may pursue further and the university members got opportunities to learn and test their scientific and entrepreneurial skills through working on some of the practical problems in the biopharmaceutical industry. Lukasz Mlodyszewski, Director of Innovation at CUTEC, said: “MedImmune themselves told me that an event like this would not have been possible five or ten years ago, but we are definitely the beneficiaries of that change in culture as a number of close relationships were formed and we’re hopeful that the exercise will create some tangible results for both students and company.”
Prior to the kick-off meeting, 50 university students and postdocs from various disciplines signed up for the questions they liked to work on within two weeks of advertising the event. This is a 100% sign-up for the event with an additional 25 university members on the reserve list. At the kick-off meeting, the MedImmune mentors who proposed the questions met the teams who chose to work on their questions. The formal meeting started with CUTEC and MedImmune organisers of the event explaining the format of the event and the judging criteria to choose one winning and two runner-up teams after a week. Following this the teams worked in an idea generation session to get a feel for what they will be doing in the next one week. The day ended with a social networking session at Brown’s across the road.
For the next one week the teams worked on their questions and generated ideas. During this time they also met with their mentors to help them be on track to finalise ideas to present at the closing event. These meetings also provided the teams with a glimpses of how people who work in the industry think, something they normally do not have access to in their academic environment. The closing event took place on March 16 at the same venue, where, in addition to the teams and their mentors, the judging panel consisting of four senior leaders from MedImmune were also present. The eight teams were selected at random to give a ten minute presentation explaining the question and the ideas they came up with. Following this the winner and runners up were chosen by the judges based on the novelty of the ideas, feasibility and presentation skills. The team that generated ideas for measuring drug concentration across the blood brain barrier was adjudged the winner and was awarded £500 as prize. In addition, the next day, on March 17, the winning and runner-up teams presented their ideas in front of the staff and scientists at MedImmune’s offices in Cambridge.
The students and postdocs of the university who participated thoroughly enjoyed the event. Comments from them include “I pursue research on the interface of physics and biology …I felt that with my background I could really make a meaningful contribution”, “The ‘open innovation’ aspect was fun”, “…a great way to break down some barriers between academia and industry, get people to talk, discuss some science and help with career decision choices” and “…the networking events have been very enjoyable”.
About MedImmune
MedImmune Ltd, is the biologics unit of AstraZeneca and one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies. Its Cambridge UK site was formerly Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) which produced UK’s first blockbuster drug Humira.
About CUTEC
CUTEC is a leading student-run organisation comprising a vibrant team of enthusiastic and highly ambitious individuals. CUTEC hosts a number of events throughout the year, either independently or in collaboration with the local and global professional networks, to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit amongst academics and students. Their annual focal event, Technology Ventures Conference (TVC), is one of the world's largest student-led entrepreneurial conferences. In 2011, the TVC will take place on June 9 at the Cambridge Union.
The Winners:
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