The Business of Science
2012-02-03 12:39:22
There is a familiar stereotype of the brilliant, somewhat dishevelled, scientist tirelessly working away in the lab on some new innovation that could change the world as we know it. Part of the myth is that the scientist is never seen outside the lab and the invention never sees the light of day. However, one of the advantages of a small liberal arts and science university like Mount Allison is that Science students are often seen mixing freely with Commerce students. This has produced some impressive success stories, including Commerce students winning a $125,000 start-up fund for a company to produce a product developed by chemistry professor, Dr. Khashayar Ghandi.
A two-day Business of Science Workshop is building on this success, introducing Science students to the entrepreneurial world and the opportunities it presents and Commerce students to the amazing work done in the lab. Designed and organized with input from Mount Allison Science and Commerce professors, Tech South East, and the director of the Enterprise Accelerator at Cambridge University, the workshop take place Saturday, February 4 and Sunday, February 5 in the Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies and the Dunn Building.
“There is growing recognition in universities and the business world that encouraging links between science and business students will lead to the development of entrepreneurial ideas,” says Dr. Nauman Farooqi, professor with the Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies and one of the organizers of the event.
Farooqi has helped with two business start-ups on campus and currently teaches courses on entrepreneurship, including “Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation” and “Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation.”
The workshop will develop an appreciation of the basic business and science areas among students in each discipline. It includes experiential learning modules and guest speakers from business and science including a number of entrepreneurs, such as former Mount Allison professor Jack Stewart, who founded the company Soricimed Biopharma Inc.; Pat Langlais, founder of Kleinmundo; Mitch Feigenbaum, founder of South Shore Trading Company; and Doug Robertson, president and CEO of Tech South East.
“We have tried to mirror conditions faced by new business start-ups—time pressures, limited information and resources, and doubt from the outside about the new and innovative idea,” says Dr. Judith Holton, co-organizer and assistant professor at the Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies.
Students will hear from Doug Robertson of Tech South East on local science-based business success stories and from Naim Khan, director IP with Spielo, on intellectual property and licensing. Mount Allison Science professors will also present their research, including chemists Dr. Andrew Grant and Dr. Khashayar Ghandi, mathematician Dr. Andrew Hamilton‐Wright, and biologist Dr. Matt Litvak.
Keep your eyes open for some interesting entrepreneurial ventures in the near future.
The workshop is funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Ron Joyce Centre for Business Studies, the Faculty of Science, and the department of chemistry and biochemistry, and is supported by Tech South East and the Office of Research Services at Mount Allison University.