What happens at the workshop?
The YES experience is focused on a three day workshop held in Yorkshire. It begins on Wednesday morning with presentations by leading figures in the biotech industry in the Yorkshire and Humber region. These talks introduce the most important topics that need to be considered when starting up a company and after lunch each team moves to their allocated boardroom to discuss the preparation of their own business plan based on their hypothetical idea. Further presentations on Thursday morning are case histories which give an insight into local biotech companies. The afternoon again provides the teams further opportunities to continue working on their business plans.
During Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the teams have the opportunity to meet mentors in their boardrooms to discuss issues arising from their work, provide advice on strategy and discuss the presentation for the business plan. The mentors are experienced in intellectual property, finance and commercialisation within the biotech sector.
Presentations start at 10am Friday morning with each team allocated 20 minutes for their presentation with a further 10 minutes for questions. The teams will deliver their presentations to a panel of judges (acting as would-be "investors") which choose a team/two teams to go through to the Biotechnology YES Final, to be held in London in December.