Key considerations for a Biotechnology Accelerator: A New Zealand perspective

Abstract

Many speak of the 21st Century as the Biotech Revolution. Biotechnology accelerator founders feel the industry holds great promise for creating new standards of health, prosperity and sustainability. Biotechnology accelerator programmes are now becoming increasingly prevalent and several are recognised as promising organisations for assisting the development of biotechnology companies. The New Zealand biotechnology industry could potentially benefit from the establishment of a biotechnology accelerator. Adopting a qualitative exploratory methodology, this study explored the key considerations for a biotechnology accelerator within a New Zealand context. This approach was chosen as there is minimal industry research and virtually no academic literature available on biotechnology accelerators. Secondary research reviewed three successful biotechnology accelerators: IndieBio, Biocity Accelerator and OneStart; then fourteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with industry members from the New Zealand biotechnology industry. The secondary findings of the research emphasised collaboration, mentorship, market validation and high intensity learning as keys to existing biotechnology accelerators. Primary findings highlighted the need to expose growing biotechnology companies to experienced individuals, a disconnection across players in the biotechnology industry and the requirement to further educate biotechnology companies on key factors of commercialisation in order develop their sophistication. Exploration of these themes allowed for five key considerations to be shaped, which address the topics of: communal working spaces, mentorship, international networks, commercialisation education and industry endorsement. The Richness, Reach and Receptivity framework provided a useful model to understand the mechanisms through which various aspects of the biotechnology industry and accelerators were affecting developing biotechnology companies. With proposed changes of aligning values and enforcement being added to the framework, the inter-organisational network theory was tailored to the research.