Biotechnology

Building High-Performance Boards: Financial and Organisational Innovation in UK High Technology - EPSRC and sponsoring companies - £750,000 

Principal Investigators: Charles Baden-Fuller and Paul Nightingale (SPRU, University of Sussex) - 2007-2010.

The project will examine and improve the role of Boards of Directors and Advisors in the UK High Technology sector, with particular emphasis on young Biotechnology firms. It will investigate how innovations in London's financial markets can be used to support knowledge development and firm success.

In the UK high technology sector, firms are increasingly ignoring traditional US models of development that stress the role of venture capital firms as suppliers of funds and knowledge. Instead they access funds from financial markets, such as AIM and adopt innovative business models that focus on speeding up product development by using highly experienced boards of directors and advisors to access external knowledge. This research will unpick how these two changes inter-relate and influence firm performance. It will examine how these boards should operate and how they access innovative finance and knowledge from specialist advisors.

A central focus of the research programme will involve developing, validating and disseminating a set of management tools that assist companies, their boards and their advisors in making better decisions about these knowledge accessing mechanisms, business models and related financing.

The tools will be co-developed with our partner research sites and an expert group of advisors. A series of workshops will validate the tools and we will ensure that they are compliant with corporate governance regulations and stock exchange rules. The tools and other output from the project will be supported by an interactive web-site.

The project will also contribute to better academic teaching and future research with development of case studies, teaching materials and other more traditional academic outputs.

• Industrial and research partners include:
• Bioindustry Association,
• Idmos
• CMP Therapeutics,
• Novabiotics
• Arrow Therapeutics,
• Pleiad Devices,
• Dart Technology UK
• SIMFONEC
• Prescot and Leman Executive Search

Knowledge Integration and Project-Based Organising in the Biotechnology and Film Industries

£220,000 - Economic and Social Research Council (2003-2006). Researchers: Charles Baden-Fuller and Joseph Lampel

This project is funded under the ESRC's 'Evolution of Business Knowledge' programme, which is concerned with the critical role that knowledge and learning play in economic competitiveness and organisational performance. This is based on the recognition that it is not simply the possession of knowledge which provides competitive advantage, but the ability to continuously acquire, integrate and apply knowledge from a variety of sources that ultimately leads to success.

The project examines the different facets of knowledge integration in the context of project-based organising. Project-based organising assembles diverse knowledge resources for single or multiple organisations with the intent of transforming these into a set of outputs. The strategic link between project-based organising and new organisational forms can substantially increase knowledge-integration capabilities - an important leap forward at a time when competitive advantage is crucially dependent on mobilising and effectively using knowledge

Knowledge integration occurs in many different ways simultaneously and at different levels. It relies on alliances, joint ventures, networks, and geographic clusters. It is intrinsically a process that is at one and the same time based on routine interaction between individuals and groups, but is also the product of intense interaction in temporary focal task structures such as projects. With this in mind the key objectives of the research are as follows:

1. To document managerial practices of how scientific knowledge, creative knowledge and managerial knowledge are integrated in project based organising.
2. To probe the relationship between different knowledge integration practices and differentials in managerial, scientific and artistic performance.
3. To link new ways of thinking about knowledge theory with better understanding of the processes of knowledge integration
4. To provide clear evidence on the connections between UK practices in the film and biotechnology industries and sustaining the competitiveness of UK industry in these sectors.
5. To provide clear evidence on how project based organising facilitates knowledge integration within and between specialist organisations such as Universities, Venture capital firms, and Artistic communities

Supporting High Skill Clusters in the Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry

(£23,500) - Skills Insight/SEEDA (2001-02).
Researchers: Chris Hendry and James Brown.

This study looks at the role of clustering in the South-East England biotechnology industry, with its strong focus on healthcare and new pharmaceuticals. It investigates the relationships between dedicated biotechnology firms, large pharmaceutical companies and the FE/HE sector, and how well the latter will be able to meet the skill needs of biotechnology firms over the next five years.

Brown, J. and Hendry, C. (2001). Supporting High Skill Clusters in the Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry. London: SEEDA.

Creating High-Skill Ecosystems in the UK Biotechnology Industry

(£17,610) - The Science Technology and Mathematics Council (2000). Researchers: Chris Hendry and James Brown.

The aim of this study was to identify skills needs in the emerging biotechnology industry - an industry in which the UK ranks second only to the USA. UK biotechnology firms are concentrated in clusters, close to major university research centre. A Key question is the extent to which they benefit from this clustering, particularly in terms of skill acquisition and development. The survey of UK biotechnology firms revealed particular concerns around project management, and also the strong international orientation of firms in the sector. The final report contains many lessons for regional development agencies and the new Local Learning and Skills Councils.

Hendry, C. and Brown, J. (2000). Creating High-Skill Ecosystems in the UK Biotechnology Industry. London: The Science, Technology and Mathematics Council/DfEE, 49pp.

The management and valuation of biotechnology firms

(1996-2002). Researchers: Charles Baden-Fuller and Peter McNamara.

These studies build on Baden-Fuller's longstanding interest in entrepreneurship, knowledge management and innovation in high technology firms. The work on biotechnology has progressed through case studies and industry analysis to develop lessons for managing biotechnology companies, valuing and protecting IPR, and integrating knowledge from disparate sources.

Baden-Fuller, C. and McNamara, P. (1999), 'Lessons from the Celltech case: Balancing Knowledge Exploration in Organizational Renewal', British Journal of Management, 10, 4, 291-307.

Baden-Fuller, C. and Pitt, M. (1996). Strategic Innovation. Routledge, 435pp.

Biotechnologies and the UK 2000-2005: Knowledge, Communication and Learning

ESRC (2000). Researcher: Chris Hendry.

Hendry, C. (2002, forthcoming), 'Science, Industry and the Laity: Towards a Knowledgeable Society for Biotechnology', New Genetics and Society.