What is the 3Bs Project?

The 3Bs project (Building Biotech Businesses) is a BMI Challenge project sponsored by the DTI. It is an integral part of Manchester Innovation Ltd and is housed in the state-of-the-art Manchester Incubator Building.

Project Aims

The 3Bs Project aims to reach out into the North West biotech research community and identify potential commercial opportunities which may form the basis of new biotech businesses. We are actively seeking a flow of new technologies and business ideas from biotech researchers and entrepreneurs across the region. The project assists in developing innovative business plans and helping to secure investment. In this way 3Bs facilitates the creation of new businesses and consequent high value jobs and encourages inward investment to the North West economy.

Our Team

Our team comprises commercial bioscience specialists with extensive experience gained in the biotech/pharma industry. Our skills in business planning, development, and operations complement those of the innovative bioscientist. This enables us to develop high quality bioscience businesses which are capable of sustaining competitive advantage and are attractive to investors. We are supported by a network of project associates who provide specialist professional advice on a free-of-charge basis to the project.

How we help you create your biotech business

Should your idea for a new business be in the area of biotechnology we would be delighted to talk to you. We assess business creation opportunities against three criteria:-

• TECHNOLOGY BASE: We are attracted to innovative technology with clear applications and benefits in selected markets. Ideally, the technology will be protectable by patents or other intellectual property rights. Breadth of technology spanning a market is a distinguishing feature. We compare technology with others in our regional database to see if synergies can be realised in the context of a new business.
• MARKET OPPORTUNITY: We are attracted to market opportunities where clearly elucidated customer needs can be satisfied by demonstrable technology benefits. We are able to assess and quantify market opportunities but when this customer need has already been found to be both significant and compatible with technology benefits, we are especially interested.
• PEOPLE: We are particularly interested in opportunities involving people who are well connected in their field with a strong personal reputation and clear perspective of the market. Such people will be committed to the development of the new business and will be aware of their key competencies and limitations. Their credibility will be an asset in the process of sourcing investment.

Have our view of your business proposition - free of charge

We are happy to undertake a free* initial assessment of your technology or business idea.
Simply contact us to learn more or to arrange for an informal discussion with one of our project consultants.

*Initial assessment of technology is free of charge subject to our eligibility criteria. Further involvement of the 3Bs Project in business creation will be subject to our agreement of terms and conditions of engagement.

Project Associates

The following organisations provide support to the 3Bs Project:

Carter & Corson (management recruitment)

Eversheds (legal consultancy)

Halliwell Landau (legal consultancy)

KPMG (financial consultancy)

Lab Support UK (lab staff recruitment)

Marks & Clerk (intellectual property consultancy)

Pleiad (medical biotechnology consultancy)

Wiggett Design Consultants (specialists in business identity management)

Carter & Corson Partnership Ltd

Through their experience in headhunting executives, Hazel Carter and John Corson realised that understanding an organisation's culture is fundamental to it achieving its full potential. They believe that corporate culture is the DNA of a business, best defined by the combined values, attitudes, behaviours and motivations of the people who work in it. Consequently, an organisation cannot make fully informed business decisions until it has sufficient self-awareness to understand its unique culture. They recognised that all business problems are essentially people problems and that understanding the impact of people is the first step towards achieving corporate success.

Hazel & John's skills and experience in managing businesses and people, psychometric assessment, recruiting and developing executives together with an innovative approach to data and problem solving led to the development of Carter & Corson Partnership Ltd, a specialist consultancy, to apply their novel approach.

In a market place requiring an increasingly integrated approach, Carter & Corson Partnership Ltd use their unique understanding of people and business to generate a people centred solution that delivers genuine added value.

Tel: 0161 907 4036/7
Email: enquiries@cartercorson.co.uk
Web: www.cartercorson.co.uk

Lab Support UK

Lab Support is an international temporary scientific staffing service whose clients include biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Lab Support can provide a quality service to meet the client's needs straight away because its Account Managers all have industrial laboratory experience.

Lab Support provides a Multi-tiered Screening Process to identify appropriate scientific professionals for clients:

• Pre-qualifying telephone interview
  
• In-person technical interview conducted by an Account Manager with a science qualification
  
• Education verified, References checked

Skills, education, experience, behavioural competencies, availability, and geography are all considered prior to submitting a candidate to the client.

Lab Support believes that scientists recruiting scientists saves:

• Time: Technical and Interpersonal skills match
  
• Money: Minimal training costs, efficiency due to technical capability
  

We recruit our scientific professionals by several methods:

• Professional Meetings
• Universities
  
• Outplacement Assistance
  
• Printed Employment Advertisements
  
• Internet (Lab Support Website/Hyperlinks)
  
• Referrals (Client & Employee)
  
• Referrals Internal to Lab Support's Network

Once a person has been placed with a client, Lab Support will have contact with technical end users and also liaison with Human Resources to monitor the success of the placement. Lab Support can also assist the client by providing health and safety training and cGMP/GLP training to prospective staff.

North West branch office is available on 01925 665445 Account Manager Sara Galpin, please feel free to call for any additional information.

Marks & Clerk

Marks & Clerk was founded in 1887 and is the largest firm of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys in the United Kingdom. We have offices throughout the UK and overseas. The industry leading magazine, Managing Intellectual Property, has ranked Marks & Clerk as the UK's No.1 firm of both patent attorneys and trade mark attorneys for the last 4 years running in their annual surveys of IP professionals.

As a whole, with 50 partners and 200 staff, Marks & Clerk offers an unrivalled depth of knowledge and expertise in the field of intellectual property (IP). Expert in patents, trade marks, copyright, designs and the area of unfair competition we have strength in a wide variety of technical fields including biotechnology, chemistry and computing. We have an extensive list of clients around the world and have built solid and enduring relationships with many leading companies both in the UK and overseas.

The partners and associate staff in the Manchester office of Marks & Clerk between them handle all fields of IP and stress pro-active, business orientated advice to reduce the risks of conflict and to improve IP management. The Manchester office has a strong Biotechnology team that acts for many North West Universities, University spin-off companies and other companies in the Biosciences and Chemical fields.

Pleiad

Pleiad is a specialist service provider working in the medical biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. The company was formed by Helen Colquhoun and Julia Edgar in February 2000 to exploit their experience in the development of novel biotechnology and pharmaceutical products for clinical use.

Pleiad fields a small, highly experienced team with the majority of work being undertaken by one or other of the directors, Helen Colquhoun and Julia Edgar. Each has worked in the medical biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries since 1988.

The services Pleiad provides are as follows:

Medical Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Companies

• Product Development Planning
• Strategic Product Review
• Senior Management Assistance and Mentoring
• Due Diligence on In-licensed Products and Technologies
• Management of Product Development Programmes (Project Management)
• Clinical Research Support
• Set-up and Management of Scientific Advisory Boards

Investors and Funders

• Due Diligence
• Technical Assessment
• Non-Executive Directorships
• Market Assessment

Academic and Research Institutions

• IP Portfolio Review
• Preparation for Due Diligence
• Market Assessment

We also provide training courses in product development planning and strategic regulatory affairs.
For further information please contact us:

Tel: 01738 563 777
E-mail:admin@pleiad.co.uk
Web: www.pleiad.co.uk

Wiggett Design Consultants Ltd.

Formed in 1996 and based in Chester, Wiggett Design Consultants provides business and brand identity creation, development and management. We aim to have an environment where designers and their clients can create innovative and effective communications which reach beyond expectation.

Tel: 01244 348168
E-mail: us@wiggettdesign.com
Web: www.wiggettdesign.com