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TBI January 21 Breakfast: "Biotechnology in Today's World - Developing the Skills for our Future"

On January 21, 2010, the Biotechnology Initiative (TBI) kicked off its 2010 monthly breakfast presentation series with three speakers: Alison Symington, executive director Bioscience Education Canada (BEC); Dr. Paula Demacio, a professor at Centennial College; and Samir Bansal, of the Business Development Bank of Canada.

The first presenter, Dr. Symington, shared with us an overview of BEC’s exciting programs, including several conducted here in Ontario. Formerly known as the Canadian Biotechnology Education Resource Centre (CBERC), since its inception in 1994, BEC has operated as a federally incorporated not-for-profit organization with a mandate to grow the biotechnology sector in Canada at the grass roots level. Among its more popular programs is the sanofi aventis Biotalent challenge (SABC).

Dr. Symington explained how the SABC competition as well as the TBI sponsored lecture series has helped to educate students on the types of jobs that are available for individuals interested in joining the Bioscience field. ..The SABC is an award winning science competition that has grown and branched out into 14 Canadian regions, including Toronto, Montreal, Eastern Ontario, Southwestern Ontario, Halifax, St. John’s, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Fredericton, Charlottetown and the Northern region. Last year the TBI sponsored lecture series attracted 1600 high school students, where lecturers spoke about a variety of issues focusing on the many facets and sectors of the industry.

Dr. Symington also emphasized the role that TBI has played in spreading the news about biotechnology through sponsoring the TBI lecture series as well as supporting an award in the SABC competition. Building on this partnership between TBI and BEC, Dr. Symington unveiled another joint effort between the two organizations: Beakers for Teachers, a unique initiative designed to collect discarded or unwanted equipment like pipettes, glassware, microfuges and even PCR machines from industry, putting these unwanted tools in the hands of students across the country.

The second presenter was Centennial College professor Dr. Paula Demacio. Dr. Demacio was a presenter/lecturer at the 2009 TBI Lecture Series. Dr. Demacio’s presentation gave attendees a glimpse of what was being taught at the post secondary level in relation to biotechnology and bioinformatics. Dr. Demacio demonstrated how she inspires her students to look deeper into the applications of biotechnology in their daily lives as a means to excite students about biotechnology. One of the key points she makes in directing her students is instructing them to take a great invention and find its killer application. Dr. Demacio also raised several interesting points in her presentation including the potential use of social networking tools like Facebook to grow the industry at the grassroots level.

The final presentation of the morning was given by BDC’s Samir Bansal. Diverting from the theme of developing the skills for our future, Bansal focused on how BDC is working to support Canadian biotech companies through its financial loan and consulting programs. Moreover, Bansal stressed that because BDC is owned by the federal government, it is different from typical commercial banks in its lending policies with the conditions of its loans not being solely based on financial return. Specifically, he explained that BDC doesn’t require personal assets as collateral and that loans are open to restructuring at any time. There are several types of loans available to biotech entrepreneurs including those for asset acquisition (tools, real estate), and loans for working capital and market development. In terms of other services, BDC also provides management support through its consulting services. While typical consulting service satisfaction is usually in the 60 per cent range, BDC consulting services is in the high 80-90 per cent range.

In closing, he encouraged interested parties to drop into any BDC branch or visit the BDC website to see what’s available to them.