{"id":13821,"date":"2024-09-26T14:28:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T14:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/?page_id=13821"},"modified":"2024-11-25T14:45:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T14:45:25","slug":"business-development","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/info-resources\/exploration\/business-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Career area: Business development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"vf-grid | vf-grid__col-3\"><div class=\"vf-grid__col--span-2\"><!--[vf\/content]-->\n<div class=\"vf-content\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A &#8216;science administation, management, consulting&#8217; career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Business development involves developing external relationships that provide valuable information or may lead to future business deals or mutually beneficial partnerships.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The biotechnology and pharma sector, instrumentation and other (life science) companies employ business development professionals as technology scouts, to gain market insights and to build and maintain relationships with key opinion leaders, decision-makers and potential future cooperation partners.&nbsp; These roles focus on information exchange and long-term partnerships, rather than generating immediate revenue through selling products. For example, big pharma employs business development professionals to develop new relationships with potential R&amp;D partners at other companies and the academia sector, and to maintain ongoing partnerships.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the academic setting, business-development-like roles also exist under a variety of job titles like \u201cIndustry Relations\u201d or \u201cIndustry Liaison\u201d \u2013 particularly within the technology transfer offices of universities and research institutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In some roles, for example in \u2018contract research companies\u2019, business developers are focused on advising both current and potential clients on the choice and set-up possibilities for complex scientific services offered by the company; these roles have some overlap with technical sales positions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"vf-tabs\"><ul class=\"vf-tabs__list\" data-vf-js-tabs=\"true\"><li class=\"vf-tabs__item\"><a class=\"vf-tabs__link\" href=\"#vf-tabs__section-ad9d22e7-f2ff-4f69-8d17-6906474a25b3\" data-vf-js-location-nearest-activation-target=\"\">Roles and responsibilities<\/a><\/li><li class=\"vf-tabs__item\"><a class=\"vf-tabs__link\" href=\"#vf-tabs__section-0e516856-67d5-40f7-8a48-9fb56f3d4d9c\" data-vf-js-location-nearest-activation-target=\"\">Career entry and progression<\/a><\/li><li class=\"vf-tabs__item\"><a class=\"vf-tabs__link\" href=\"#vf-tabs__section-2b831503-f499-4f03-ae98-402b00c99e2e\" data-vf-js-location-nearest-activation-target=\"\">Knowledge and skills<\/a><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"vf-tabs-content\" data-vf-js-tabs-content=\"true\">\n<section class=\"vf-tabs__section\" id=\"vf-tabs__section-ad9d22e7-f2ff-4f69-8d17-6906474a25b3\"><h2>Roles and responsibilities<\/h2>\n<p>The job titles and the tasks associated with business development positions vary greatly. Possible tasks may include a subset of the following activities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>attending in-person and virtual networking (e.g. at national\/international (business development) conferences and local biotech cluster &nbsp;events) as well as offline communication (email, phone calls) with existing and potential future partners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>attending (and in some cases organizing) meetings with current or potential future stakeholders; summarizing these discussions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>collecting, organizing and evaluating information, including keeping up to date on industry news and trends and research developments to identify opportunities (e.g. potential partners, new technologies, possible acquisition targets, competitors etc).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>working closely with legal\/IP\/admin teams to coordinate the establishment of partnerships and licensing deals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>where applicable, passing on any potential sales leads to the sales\/marketing teams.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>advising clients\/partners on potential projects, and reviewing outcomes of the completed projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"vf-tabs__section\" id=\"vf-tabs__section-0e516856-67d5-40f7-8a48-9fb56f3d4d9c\"><h2>Career entry and progression<\/h2>\n<p>Some junior business development roles in start-ups or tech transfer offices can be accessed directly from the PhD or postdoc. For roles in larger companies, it may be difficult to enter directly into a business development role without previous industry experience \u2013 in our experience, it seems that PhD-holders in these roles have often (but not always) acquired experience in another industry role first (e.g. sales, R&amp;D, project management, management consulting).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Example job titles<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Business development officer\/manager\/specialist<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strategic alliance manager<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strategy and operations manager<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Industry liaison<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Industry relations manager<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Licensing associate\/officer\/manager<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Partnerships officer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"vf-tabs__section\" id=\"vf-tabs__section-2b831503-f499-4f03-ae98-402b00c99e2e\"><h2>Knowledge and skills<\/h2>\n<p>Business development professionals need to be able to quickly build effective relationships with people, requiring good people and communication skills. An ability to understand the technology\/science relevant to the role is important, as well as being able to extrapolate from that and clearly see which opportunities may be of interest to the company. Finally, organization is key to keep track of all the different connections (both people and information).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/blog\/2022\/03\/skills-for-a-scientific-career\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">careers and skills survey<\/a>, 6 business development professionals told us about the competencies they used most often. The most commonly selected competencies were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Networking (selected by 83% of respondents)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Effective communication (selected by 83%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deep knowledge of a technology (selected by 50%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Providing broader impact (selected by 50%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Broad scientific knowledge (selected by 50%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"\"><!--[vf\/content]-->\n<div class=\"vf-content\">\n\n<figure class=\"vf-figure wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-content\/uploads\/Train-the-Trainer_Lima_Sarah_Morgan-8-t.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12067\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<article class=\"vf-card vf-card--brand vf-card--bordered vf-u-margin__bottom--800\" default>\n  \n  <div class=\"vf-card__content | vf-stack vf-stack--400\">\n          <h3 class=\"vf-card__heading\">\n        \n        What do people value about this career?\n              <\/h3>\n    \n    \n          <p class=\"vf-card__text\"><!-- wp:paragraph -->\r\n\r\nIn our<a class=\"vf-card_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/blog\/2022\/03\/skills-for-a-scientific-career\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00a0careers and skills survey<\/a>, scientists working in business development told us that they appreciate that their work:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>has high task variety<\/li>\r\n \t<li>is intellectually stimulating<\/li>\r\n<\/ul><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<style>\n    <\/style>\n\n<section id=\"wp-block-1\">\n  <div class=\"vf-card-container  | vf-u-fullbleed  \n  | vf-u-background-color-ui--grey--light \">\n          <div class=\"vf-section-header | vf-u-margin__bottom--600 | vf-u-sr-only\">\n        <h2 class=\"vf-section-header__heading\" >\n        header    <\/h2>\n              <\/div>\n      \n\n<div class=\"vf-grid | vf-grid__col-3\"><div class=\"vf-grid__col--span-2\"><!--[vf\/content]-->\n<div class=\"vf-content\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Want to learn more about this career area?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<details  class=\"vf-details\" id=\"\"  >\n<summary class=\"vf-details--summary\">\nResources<\/summary>\n<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n<div class=\"vf-links vf-links--tight vf-links__list--s vf-links__list--very-easy\">\n    <ul class=\"vf-links__list vf-list vf-links__list--secondary\">\n    <li class=\"vf-list__item\">\n          <a class=\"vf-list__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/tooling-business-development-career-track\">\n        Tooling Up: The Business Development Career Track \u2013 Science Careers      <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n    <li class=\"vf-list__item\">\n          <a class=\"vf-list__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0012160619305536\">\n        Best of both worlds: A career in technology transfer and business development \u2013 Developmental Biology Careers Beyond the Bench Special Issue      <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n    <li class=\"vf-list__item\">\n          <a class=\"vf-list__link\" href=\"https:\/\/biotech.ucdavis.edu\/blog\/business-development-bd-non-traditional-career-path-phds\">\n        Business Development (BD): A Non-Traditional Career Path for Ph.D.\u2019s \u2013 UC Davis      <\/a>\n      <\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<details  class=\"vf-details\" id=\"\"  >\n<summary class=\"vf-details--summary\">\nVideos<\/summary>\n<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n<div class=\"vf-links vf-links--tight vf-links__list--s vf-links__list--very-easy\">\n    <ul class=\"vf-links__list vf-list vf-links__list--secondary\">\n    <li class=\"vf-list__item\">\n          <a class=\"vf-list__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nV1IgijaQl8\">\n        Networking Corner with Erin Denny, PhD: \u201cBusiness Development in the Pharmaceutical Industry\u201d, from UCLA with short overview of different types of business development roles in pharma.      <\/a>\n          <span class=\"vf-badge vf-badge--primary\">\n        **Highly recommended**      <\/span>\n      <\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"vf-box vf-box--normal vf-box-theme--quinary | vf-u-margin__bottom--400\">\n                            <p class=\"vf-box__text\">We highly recommend learning more about the careers using the resources above, then conducting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/info-resources\/making-connections\/#vf-tabs__section-c9d226ee-2bad-45ed-bf4a-7d49cd01ad03\">informational interviews<\/a> to gain further insights directly from former PhDs working in career areas that interest you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"\"><!--[vf\/content]-->\n<div class=\"vf-content\">\n\n<article class=\"vf-card vf-card--brand vf-card--bordered vf-u-margin__bottom--800\" default>\n  \n  <div class=\"vf-card__content | vf-stack vf-stack--400\">\n          <h3 class=\"vf-card__heading\">\n                  <a class=\"vf-card__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/internal-information\/eicat\/embl-fellows-career-service\/career-exploration\/\" target=\"\">\n        \n        For EMBL fellows\n                  <svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"vf-card__heading__icon | vf-icon vf-icon-arrow--inline-end\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n            <path d=\"M0 12c0 6.627 5.373 12 12 12s12-5.373 12-12S18.627 0 12 0C5.376.008.008 5.376 0 12zm13.707-5.209l4.5 4.5a1 1 0 010 1.414l-4.5 4.5a1 1 0 01-1.414-1.414l2.366-2.367a.25.25 0 00-.177-.424H6a1 1 0 010-2h8.482a.25.25 0 00.177-.427l-2.366-2.368a1 1 0 011.414-1.414z\" fill=\"currentColor\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path>\n          <\/svg>\n        <\/a>\n              <\/h3>\n    \n    \n          <p class=\"vf-card__text\"><p>Further internal resources (e.g. library of recorded career talks) can be found on our intranet pages.<\/p><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n        <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<hr class=\"vf-divider\">\n\n\n\n\n        <div class=\"vf-section-header\">\n        <h2 class=\"vf-section-header__heading\">\n            <a class=\"vf-section-header__heading vf-section-header__heading--is-link\"\n               target=\"_blank\"\n               href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/blog\/category\/career-profiles\/administration-management-consulting-career-profiles\/business-development\/\">\n                Read relevant posts from our blog                <svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"vf-section-header__icon | vf-icon vf-icon-arrow--inline-end\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n                    <path d=\"M0 12c0 6.627 5.373 12 12 12s12-5.373 12-12S18.627 0 12 0C5.376.008.008 5.376 0 12zm13.707-5.209l4.5 4.5a1 1 0 010 1.414l-4.5 4.5a1 1 0 01-1.414-1.414l2.366-2.367a.25.25 0 00-.177-.424H6a1 1 0 010-2h8.482a.25.25 0 00.177-.427l-2.366-2.368a1 1 0 011.414-1.414z\" fill=\"\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path>\n                <\/svg>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/h2>\n            <\/div>\n    \n<div class=\"vf-grid vf-grid__col-3 | vf-content\">\n\n    \n            \n<article class=\"vf-summary vf-summary--news\" style=\"display: block; display: unset;\">\n  \n  <span class=\"vf-summary__date\" title=\"2024-04-24T12:16:44+00:00\"\n    datetime=\"2024-04-24T12:16:44+00:00\">24 April 2024  <\/span>\n    \n  <h3 class=\"vf-summary__title\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/blog\/2024\/04\/career-profile-erminia-rubino-head-of-industrial-partnerships-institut-imagine\/\" class=\"vf-summary__link\">Career profile: Erminia Rubino, Head of Industrial Partnerships, Institut Imagine<\/a>\n  <\/h3>\n    <p class=\"vf-summary__text\">\n    In this blog post, Erminia Rubino shares how she made the transition from a PhD in the life sciences to a career in innovation and technology.  <\/p>\n    <\/span>\n      \n<\/article>\n\n<!--\/vf-summary-->\n\n<article class=\"vf-summary vf-summary--news\" style=\"display: block; display: unset;\">\n  \n  <span class=\"vf-summary__date\" title=\"2022-08-16T08:16:10+00:00\"\n    datetime=\"2022-08-16T08:16:10+00:00\">16 August 2022  <\/span>\n    \n  <h3 class=\"vf-summary__title\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/blog\/2022\/08\/career-profile-kinga-bercsenyi-associate-director-business-development-translational-oncology-solutions-at-champions-oncology\/\" class=\"vf-summary__link\">Career Profile: Kinga Bercsenyi, Associate Director Business Development Translational Oncology Solutions at Champions Oncology<\/a>\n  <\/h3>\n    <p class=\"vf-summary__text\">\n    For this profile, we talked with Kinga Bercsenyi, Associate Director Business Development Translational Oncology Solutions at Champions Oncology. Kinga told us about her current role and how informational interviews were key for her transition from a postdoc to her first business development role.  <\/p>\n    <\/span>\n      \n<\/article>\n\n<!--\/vf-summary-->\n    \n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"vf-divider\">\n\n\n\n<div class=\"vf-grid | vf-grid__col-3\"><div class=\"vf-grid__col--span-3\"><!--[vf\/content]-->\n<div class=\"vf-content\">\n\n<div class=\"vf-section-header | vf-u-margin__bottom--400\">\n  <h2 class=\"vf-section-header__heading\" \n      >\n      \n          <a class=\"vf-section-header__heading vf-section-header__heading--is-link\"\n                  target=\"_blank\"\n         href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/info-resources\/exploration\/\">\n        Return to our Career information and exploration page         <svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"vf-section-header__icon | vf-icon vf-icon-arrow--inline-end\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n          <path d=\"M0 12c0 6.627 5.373 12 12 12s12-5.373 12-12S18.627 0 12 0C5.376.008.008 5.376 0 12zm13.707-5.209l4.5 4.5a1 1 0 010 1.414l-4.5 4.5a1 1 0 01-1.414-1.414l2.366-2.367a.25.25 0 00-.177-.424H6a1 1 0 010-2h8.482a.25.25 0 00.177-.427l-2.366-2.368a1 1 0 011.414-1.414z\" fill=\"\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path>\n        <\/svg>\n      <\/a>\n      <\/h2>\n\n  \n  <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":8552,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-title-left-aligned.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-13821","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13821"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21529,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13821\/revisions\/21529"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/embl-fellows-career-service\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=13821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}