Do you want to know how scientific inventions are turned into real-life medicines, products, and agricultural innovations? Are you interested in how patents serve to protect your
invention? Or would you like to learn what it takes to create a biotech startup company? Join VIB’s Innovation & Business team in our annual summer course on technology transfer!

At VIB, we're on a mission to turn our scientific discoveries into real-world solutions that benefit both the society and the economy. Our dedicated Innovation & Business team works
tirelessly to bring these breakthroughs to life by securing patents, devising strategic intellectual property (IP) plans, forging partnerships with industry leaders, licensing our IP and know-how, and even fostering the creation of spin-off companies. VIB Innovation & Business also features a team of industry-trained scientists that collaborates with VIB labs to derisk promising biology and explore novel biomarkers.

In the past half-decade alone, our efforts have yielded impressive results. We've built a portfolio boasting over 280 active patent families, formed over 1500 partnerships with industry pioneers, generated more than € 460 million in industrial revenue, and facilitated the birth of 42 dynamic spin-off ventures.

Objectives

This course will give you a flavor of:

• How to protect your invention through a patent application.
• What steps are necessary to commercialize your work.
• How to set up partnerships with industry.
• What it takes to set up a spin-off company.
• How to turn your research into value for society.

Approach

Supported by speakers from biotech companies and investment firms, VIB’s Innovation & Business Team will go into detail on real-life valorization approaches. We will discuss the
basics of Intellectual Property Rights, including a hands-on patent search on your favorite topic. We will go through term sheets and contracts that shape the framework of industrial collaborations and investments. You will be engaging in a lively contract negotiation exercise, tackling a real-world case between company representatives and VIB's valorization
managers. On top of that, you will be introduced to the various stages of setting up a start-up company, and join a thrilling live start-up pitching event and showcase your idea to a jury panel, featuring an exclusive guest venture capital speaker.

We warmly invite participants to submit a short abstract on a potential business idea before the start of the course, so we can select a number of topics for the startup pitching exercise, which will be held in small teams. We will email you more details regarding the requirements for your abstract and then, in the course of June, invite you to submit your abstract.

-> See abstract submission button at the bottom of this page.

Event intended for

We set up this course to introduce VIB scientists to the technology transfer process and the life sciences ecosystem surrounding us. The course is also open to external participants, but please note that all examples and case studies will focus on life science topics.