BIO4100 Bioeconomy and Biobusiness
- Course codeBIO4100
- Number of credits10
- Teaching semester2024 Autumn
- Language of instructionEnglish
- CampusHamar
- Required prerequisite knowledge
None
The course includes the topics intellectual property, innovation, business models and commercialization:
Intellectual Property:
- How to protect such property and how the IPR law is working in Europe and US.
- The different strategies for biotech companies to protect its IPR and ensure its “freedom to operate” in business.
- Licensing of IPR.
Innovation:
- The different classes of innovation (incremental, radical, disruptive, open and closed innovation).
- Creativity and idea generation.
- 10 types of innovation (product, service, business models etc.).
- Methods for developing ideas into innovations (e.g. Design Thinking and biomimicry).
- Theories on why innovations fail in the market and how to prevent it.
Business models:
- Different business models relevant to biotechnology and bioeconomy companies.
- Osterwalder business model canvas and value creation.
Commercialization:
- Market segmentation and calculation of market size, analyzing the market and opportunities (SWOT analysis)
- Selecting the beach-head markets, technology adoption, product-, sales- and marketing strategies including the 4 P’s marketing mix (product, place, price and promotion)
- Sales- and distribution channels, the importance of branding and launching a product to global markets.
Learning Outcome
Upon passing the course, students have achieved the following learning outcomes:
Students
- have knowledge of patent protection of inventions and other Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
- have advanced knowledge of innovation, business models, sales- and marketing of biotech products.
Students
- have good understanding of IPR including patents, copyright and trademarks.
- have thorough skills in the use of IPR in biotechnology and how to make use of it in business.
- can classify inventions and innovations.
- can carry out and give good suggestion to appropriate business models and sales and marketing strategies, and prepare a sales- and marketing plan.
Students
- can analyse and prioritize business opportunities with respect to profitability and choice of customer- and market segments.
- can evaluate when and how to protect intellectual property in bioeconomy/biotech business.
The course is delivered as weekly lectures combined with case studies. Students are expected to participate in class discussions.
Normally, evaluation of all courses must be carried out. Time/date and method are decided in consultation with student representatives. The course coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the evaluation is carried out.
- Attendance of at least 80% for all scheduled lectures.
- Two individual assignments of selected topics must be passed.
| Form of assessment | Grading scale | Grouping | Duration of assessment | Support materials | Proportion | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oral examination | ECTS - A-F | Individual | 100 |
- An individual oral exam
The examination consists in short and concise student presentations on themes selected at random from a list, and questions related to this, as well as the assignments returns.
Performance is assessed using a grading scale from A-F, where E is the lowest passing grade.