In our world where the entrepreneurship ecosystem is growing day by day, the advantages of those who think differently and put their thoughts into practice are increasing. Especially big companies that manage most of the capital do more business with newly established entrepreneurs day by day, making people who want to become entrepreneurs stand out more. In addition, the importance of biology increased all over the world, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, caused people to be interested in news about biology. According to all these situations, bio-entrepreneurship, which we started to hear more and more day by day, attracts the attention of many people. So, what is this biological entrepreneurship with its simple lines?
Bio-entrepreneurship, as a definition, is a combination of entrepreneurship ecosystem and biological sciences. In other words, the use of biology for a business plan can be called bio-entrepreneurship. As an addition, the word bio-entrepreneurship is used to describe this concept in the world, but BioE, bioscience enterprise or biotechnology enterprise are also used.
The purpose of bio-enterpreneurship is to create value for the user by the discovery, design, development, testing, approval and embedding of innovation in biological and health sciences. There is a wide range of medicines, devices, and various diagnostic methods to agricultural biotechnology in the field of bio-entrepreneurship. In addition to all these, digital health has become an important area for bio-enterprises in today’s digital world. Especially, the increase of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning has enabled the effect of digital health applications to in treatment and diagnosis.
Today, very successful health support practices meet users in the world. While it was a dream to have an application on our mobile phone when we had a flu infection before, it is not a dream today, thanks to the successful application FluAI, we can monitor the infection by taking a photo of our throat and entering a few parameters in our home environment. Or you can follow your health continuously with Mandarin, a mobile application that analyzes people’s health behaviors with artificial intelligence and displays their health status and recommendations with augmented reality.
Innovation is inventing and exploration by doing something novel or adding something new to an old product or service. But in order to exist in the market, putting the user to the center is one of the most important points. So, in order for a product or service to be innovative, there must be something that knows its user and makes a difference in that user.
It is a difficult process to define a market niche, develop a compelling value proposition and implement a plan where the company can profit. As a result of research and development processes, creating a new device or creating a new health service is very tiring but very valuable. However, if the number of people who want to use or buy the innovation you have is very few, in other words, if the market share is low, your project is unlikely to be successful.
It is important to keep the number of people in the market addressed in entrepreneurship wide. But there is no rule that there will be a wide market in every business idea. In this case, it is very important how vital you design a solution in the smaller market. In projects with high research costs, as in bio-entrepreneurship, it should be determined the size of the market before starting work. Otherwise, if the business plan fails, previous research costs cannot be recovered.
According to the famous bio-entrepreneur Doctor Arlen Meyers, there are 3 basic thoughts under the people’s adoption of bio-entrepreneurship, whether in the private sector or in the academic world. These thoughts are the main reasons behind the entry of most bio-entrepreneurs into the industry.
First, no business idea will work well until ideas enter the market. So, if you have an idea in mind, if you refrain from putting this idea into practice while you are working in a routine job, as a civil servant or when you are looking at a routine patient, that idea will be eternal with you. This is one of the most important factors underlying the introduction of medical doctors into bio-entrepreneurship.
Second, there is a lot of money to be earned. Yes, financial support is very important for an enterprise. When designing a solution that will affect the lives and health of thousands, perhaps millions of people, you should earn money so that your work is always permanent. Especially the corona pandemic showed the importance of biology. My inference is that biological and healthcare costs will increase day by day. In this process, new bio-initiatives will be very advantageous. Maybe new bio-enterprises will go straight to the level without experiencing the troubles faced by companies established many years ago. As a result, every crisis period will have a winner as well as a loser. It is also a very inference that health related sectors will gain value in the long term all over the world.
Finally, bio-entrepreneurship provides a point of visions for doctors who want to use their intellectual and problem-solving skills to make a difference other than looking directly at patients. Doctorhood is a very important profession. Although his income is said to be higher than many professions, it can even be said that his salary is low compared to the risks they take most of the time. It is not hard to understand how vital the doctors were doing, especially during the Covid-19 period. However, some doctors may seek to add innovations to their routine clinical practices. Problem solving skills of doctors who know the clinic very well are also developed. The companies established by the doctors in health-related fields are mostly aimed at closing a big deficiency in the clinic. In short, it is very important for the bio-entrepreneurship, as in all other fields, that the person coming from a business produces innovation related to that business.
Today, perhaps because of its technological and scientific infrastructure is much more than other fields, bio-entrepreneurs’ job may be more difficult than entrepreneurs in other fields, but the fact that the solution they have created affects human health directly, makes bio-entrepreneurship affect not only aggressive money but also social service. I would have argued that if it were before, bio-entrepreneurs may have difficulty finding resources due to high research and development expenditures. But in the post-pandemic process, I think that the needle will turn towards developing alternatives for increasing health expenditures. In this case, bio enterprises have become advantageous for the first time in history compared to other enterprises. In conclusion, if you read this article and have an idea, what are you waiting for? Move on and start your project!
Yazar
Efe Cuma YAVUZSOY
MARKETING