Monthly Archives: October 2014

BES 2014 is underway

We had a great kick off session to BES last week. With candid advice about the skills you need and the reality of working in a small company from Mikael Maksimov from Faron Pharmaceuticals. We changed gears to a more philosophical lecture on Scientific Innovation in Business & the Role of Academia from Yrjö Neuvo. Juhani Lahdenperä from Biotech Startup Management Oy (BSUM) gave some great advice on Developing Commercialisation Strategies and the students even got the chance do some practical examples in teams.

Today’s lecture kicked off with Accounting in Practice with Kaj Grussner from KPMG. We switched gears to talk about ICT entrepreneurship with Pasi Malinen from Brahea. This was a very lively, colourful and entertaining talk. He shared the Socialnomics video “Social Media Revolution” which is pretty telling for how ICT developments are changing the way things are done nowadays. EDIT: I found the Fat Boy Slim version & being from near Brighton I couldn’t resist updating the link.

On a completely different note. Here’s a fun TED talk I came across this morning ” Life Lessons from an Ad Man” sees Rory Sutherland giving a very entertaining talk. For those who are interested in marketing, communication, decision-making, value perception and creation (and want a laugh along the way) this is a very worthwhile way to spend 15 minutes. Lessons from an Ad Man – Rory Sutherland

Update on BES 2014

I am in the midst of organising the Business Essentials for Scientists 2014 course. There’s just over 2 weeks to course kick-off and the level of interest has been beyond what I expected. There are only 20 places and I had 50 applications, which clearly demonstrates a need for this sort of “crash-course” to business education & the chance to meet “real” business people & entrepreneurs.

I have had applications from students in Biosciences and Medicine to those in IT and Behavioural Sciences, all the way from Bachelor to MBA level from both Åbo Akademi and University of Turku. It has been agonising trying to choose applicants, especially those who are clearly desperate to take the course, and the decision of who to take was not taken lightly. Some have asked why can’t I have more spaces on the course. The reason for this is simple. Smaller classes foster better interaction between the speaker and the students, as well as between the students themselves. In Finland, the classes are naturally very quiet affairs with few students actually being proactive and asking questions. I don’t want this to be a lecture course, where students sit, listen take notes and then leave without ever engaging with the speakers or each other.

Congratulations to those who were accepted on the course, I expect great things from you!