(488a) Training Scientists and Engineers for the Biotech Industry: Lessons Learned from an Unexpected Quarter

This paper derives from an ongoing effort to train bioscientists and bioengineers to work on commercially marketable products. The "students" here are scientists and engineers originally educated for and engaged in bioweapons development in the former Soviet Union. Since the end of the Cold War, they have been engaged in non-military R&D, with support from the West, while being prepared for self-sustaining operation in the civilian sector of market economies. The author describes his experience in providing market-oriented perspective to guide R&D programs, and in training researchers to prepare business plans for start-up biotech ventures. More recently, this activity has been enhanced by including training in strategic business thinking based on selected case studies of biotech enterprises, which are more commonly used to teach MBA students in the West (many of whom do not have technical backgrounds). The author suggests that this approach can be adapted to fit into programs of science and engineering departments that are aimed at preparing their students for careers in the biotech industry.