Team:RUBochum/Entrepreneurship
During our iGEM season, we were in contact with a variety of companies and startups that deal with the production of synthetically produced food.
iGEM focuses on challenges which are also relevant in startups or companies during the development of a new product.
We focused on the question of what it takes to be an entrepreneur, with special focus on the synthetic biology sector.
This is what we learned after consultation with Dr. Britta Winterberg and Dr. Michael Krohn
Before you create a startup, you always have to know the significance of your project and product. Surveys are a good start to determine your target group.
When starting your company, you have to keep many things in mind.
One of them is the problem with patents. If you have an idea, even if it is completely your own, the patent will often belong to the company or university you are currently working with.
In Germany, this is currently established in the “Gesetz über Arbeitnehmererfindungen” (law on employee inventions).
Another important thing is funding. Before you create your startup, you should be familiar with subsidies from your government and bridge funding. The more money the company gets, the more innovation can expand (non-dilutive funding).
A startup with an innovative idea and a well-developed plan will get more money with less company shares from investors (venture capital). One of the advantages of venture capital is that you can invest it more flexible and don't have to determine your investments.
Meeting with Dr. Britta Winterberg of Formo
In order to get more information and possible tips for our project, we contacted various companies and startups. One startup that particularly interested us because it is working on a very similar project to ours is the startup FORMO (previously LegenDairy Foods) from Berlin. Their goal is to use synthetic microbiology to produce dairy products and cheese that is equivalent to the original.
We were therefore very happy that Dr. Britta Winterberg, the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the company, agreed to meet with us and give us insights into their work.
Besides getting to know a bit more about their project, it was particularly interesting to learn something about the process and the challenges that arise when trying to launch a product.
From financing to hiring the right people with the necessary qualifications to successfully build a business to dealing with legal restrictions and finding the right market for your product, we learned a variety of things to consider for possible future projects.
“In general, it's important to have a team with broad experience in different areas. Even in the field of synthetic biology, economists have high significance.”
Dr. Britta Winterberg
Figure 1: Our Meeting with Dr. Britta Winterberg, founder of Formo
Meeting with Dr. Michael Krohn from BRAIN Biotech AG
We also had the pleasure to meet Dr. Michael Krohn, the Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development from BRAIN Biotech AG.
The BRAIN Biotech AG is producing and cultivating different natural substances, enzymes and microorganisms. Among those is also the protein Brazzein that we also produced as flavor for our yogurt.
We also talked with Dr. Michael Krohn about white biotechnology sector in general and what it takes to build a company in this sector. He told us that it can take very long until a new sweetener is on the market. In general you should plan 10 years for the development and isolation of the sweetener and another 10 years until it's approved. So it can take about 20 years until a new sweetener is on the market.
"The scale of the industry is the biggest bottleneck, everything else can be handled, but scale is expensive. And the approval. Those are the two things that make it really expensive."
Dr. Michael Krohn
Figure 2: Our meeting with Dr. Michael Krohn, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development of BRAIN Biotech AG
Biohackers Watch Parties, Discussion about entrepreneurship and Science Communication
We also participated in two “Biohackers Watch Parties”, organized from the German Association for Synthetic Biology (GASB) and the “Haus der Wissenschaft Braunschweig” (House of Science in Braunschweig) and the following discussion rounds with experts.
The “Biohackers Watch Parties” takes place as part of the science year 2020/2021 (“Wissenschaftsjahres 2020/2021”) with the overall topic of bioeconomy.
After everybody watched 2 seasons of the Netflix series “Biohackers” together, the discussion started, and we could ask questions to experts.
The first event on the 29th September was about entrepreneurship, start-ups and synthetic biology in general. The three experts, Dr. Britta Winterberg of Formo, Dr. Max Mundt, Startup Origin.bio and Dr. Reyk Horland, Co-founder of the TissUse GmbH, explained a lot about their work and gave us interesting insights in the day-to-day work of someone in a startup or company in the field of synthetic biology.
The Discussion about entrepreneurship can be watched here.
The second event we visited was about science communication with Dr. Dorothea Hämmerer, the journalist Janina Otto, and science YouTuber Doktor Whatson. We discussed effective science communication in television shows, movies and other media. This was very interesting, and we could implement the information in our efforts to communicate with the general public about our project.
The Discussion about Science Communication can be watched here.