Biosciences Executive Series Designed to Help Industry Leaders Manage Disruptive Change

The Biosciences Executive Series is being taught over three weekends from April 30, 2010, to June 26, 2010. Each weekend module focuses on one of the three key aspects of innovation management: discovery, development and deployment. Two workshops within each module provide participants with the tools and understanding needed to begin implementing what they learn.

Specific outcomes for three modules include:

• understanding that innovation can be defined, applied, measured and managed and who is responsible, as well as how to turn market signals into a fact-based case for change
• learning how to implement the component business model to differentiate the company in response to new market realities

• understanding how to create a company culture that supports value creation.

The series has been developed and will be presented in collaboration with the BioSciences Management initiative in the College of Management’s Jenkins MBA program and the Center for Innovation Management Studies (CIMS).

“At the College of Management, we define biosciences as all industries impacted by the tools of biotechnology, including health care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, nutrition, agriculture, and industrial bioproducts, as well as firms allied with these industries,” said Dr. Richard Kouri, executive director of the BioSciences Management initiative and professor of practice in the Jenkins MBA program.

“The bioscience ecosystem has entered a period of significant change associated with massive technological, social and political trends,” Kouri said. This includes the growing economic power and different needs of the developing world, changes in the regulatory environment, the need to better manage the massive explosion of available data, and the increased use of pervasive monitoring of all processes, from R&D to customer service.

“For over 25 years, CIMS researchers and industry partners have been researching and developing innovation processes and models, including tools to help companies advance change from within,” said Paul Mugge, CIMS director and professor of practice in innovation the College of Management. “We are tapping this knowledge base and using tools resulting from the research, including the Innovation Management Maturity Assessment Tool and a workbook that provides tools for componentizing your business model,” he said.

Setting the stage for each of the weekend modules are keynote presentations by leading experts in innovation management, with a special focus on the biosciences industries.

• April 30: Dr. Andrew Hargadon, author of the book, How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate and Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship and professor of technology management at the University of California’s Davis Graduate School of Management. Hargadon’s doctoral research dissertation had been sponsored by CIMS.

• April 30: Dr. John Didsbury, CEO of the Drug Discovery Center of Innovation, a non-profit, comprehensive drug discovery and development center that facilitates the translation of discoveries into effective new medicines. He is a seasoned executive manager with over 23 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, working in both small and large public and private companies, including DRA BioSciences, Inc., where he directed all operations of the business and had a key role in taking the company public in 2008; Nuada Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private venture-backed development-stage pharmaceuticals company; and GlaxoSmithKline.

• June 24: Dennis Walsh, a communications specialist and sustainability futurist with expertise in social entrepreneurship and green philanthropy. He is the former publisher of Green at Work, a magazine focused on encouraging environmental and social sustainability on a corporate level, and former editor of America’s GreenHouse, a journal that reports innovative strategies supporting renewable energy. His articles have been featured in publications such as Sales and Marketing Management Magazine and Corporate Responsibility Magazine. He currently travels as a conference speaker and workshop leader, offering tips for implementing change within businesses. His practical strategies are founded on a firm belief that behaving ethically, efficiently, and environmentally produces greater long-term profits.

Instructors for the three modules are graduate faculty in the NC State College of Management who bring their depth of research, teaching and corporate experience in innovation management, strategy, services innovation, corporate culture, entrepreneurship and research and development.

Registration and other details about this open enrollment program are available at the college’s Executive Programs website or by contacting Russell Thomas, director of Executive Programs in the NC State College of Management.