Dec 12, 2022
International Summer School for Technology Transfer in Life Sciences at TU Dresden ended successfully
With great success, the Department for Development and International Affairs of the Medical Faculty of the TU Dresden hosted the 8th International Summer School on Technology Transfer in Life Sciences from 26th to 30th September 2022. It was a week filled with a diverse programme that comprised knowledge transfer by experts in the field, the fruitful exchange of ideas as well as social activities for the participants.
The event officially kicked off on Monday with a speech by Prof. Stefan Bornstein, Vice Dean of Development and International Affairs of the TU Dresden and also transCampus Dean along with opening words by Project Coordinator Laura Eckert. On the first day, the well-prepared and highly motivated participants pitched their ideas to experts from the world of business and life sciences and had the opportunity to exchange expertise as well as thoughts about their own projects and plans. Supported by input of the experts Nadine Schmieder-Galfe from ZELLMECHANIK DRESDEN and Prof. Thomas Crispeels from Vrije Universiteit Brussel the participants were able to significantly improve their business strategies.
The Summer School continued in rapid pace and in the course of various workshops during the whole week the participants further improved and built upon their ideas in order to realise their entrepreneurial plans. Dr. Stefanie Possekel and Dr. Thilo Förster from Ascenion GmbH, for example, gave lectures and workshops on the multitude of financing strategies in Life Sciences. Differences between spin-offs and licensing were discussed and their advantages as well as disadvantages explored. This allowed the young entrepreneurs to obtain crucial knowledge and a deeper understanding for a successful business strategy. With this new knowledge in mind and the guidance by leading experts in the field, the participants started to identify potentials in their work and began working on own group projects, which covered a wide area of the Life Sciences.
Further days full of input on topics such as licensing and patenting in the biotech sector followed. Presentations about the legal perspective were given by Matthias Hoffmann from Maikowski & Ninnemann and Prof. Sebastian Wündisch from business law firm Noerr LLP Dresden. In addition, Prof. Remigiusz Smolinski from HHL Leipzig educated the young scientists and entrepreneurs in a playful way about contract negotiation and explained how it is a major point of contention with possible business partners and thus has to be considered very carefully. This knowledge was supplemented by theory and practice on how to develop and properly present business models. The young scientists and entrepreneurs thereby actively practiced pitching their business models with the help of experts Konrad Sell, Nadine Schmieder-Galfer and Dorit Teichmann from Dresden Exists.
But with regard to leisure no shortcomings occurred either. After full days of workshops and learning, both participants and experts came together in the evenings. Be it for a well-earned dinner in the Sophienkeller of the Taschenbergpalais in the beautiful city center of Dresden or in the cosy bar BARNEBY, located in the vibrant Neustadt of Dresden. Or even in a spooky city tour by an appropriately dressed up guide, who uncovered the dark medieval past of Dresden and offered a refreshing change to the academic environment. In any case there was plenty of opportunity to enjoy the cultural side of Saxony, to network and further discuss ideas in an informal setting.
The last day of the Summer School was used by the participants to summarise and reflect on everything they have learned during this intensive week of presentations, workshops and exchange. The highlight, however, was without doubt the opportunity for the participants to present the results of their own projects which they had worked on so keenly during the week. The group as well as an expert panel provided valuable feedback – an important step on the road to the realisation of these promising projects and an expression of the progress and success that crowned this year´s Dresden Summer School.