DATES
2021 cohort
February 19, 2021 to January 15, 2022
Concordia University
https://www.concordia.ca/content/concordia/en/jmsb/executive-education/expertise/health-management/life-sciences-entrepreneurship-development.html
The Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Development Program is an immersive and experiential training program created by an unprecedented collaboration between Montréal InVivo, the life sciences and health technology (LSHT) cluster, the Faculty of Pharmacy at Université de Montréal, and Concordia University’s John Molson Executive Centre.
Our partners are proud collaborators of the program and offer the following modules to enhance the content.
Design Thinking Concepts, Business Model Canvas, Business Model Validation, Basics of Customer Relationship Management, Product Market Fit and Pitch Perfect
Development in Oncology
Polytechnique/TransMedTech Institute
Development in Innovative Medical Technologies
You will learn cutting-edge managerial techniques, providing you strategies to develop and grow an innovative business. Divided into ten intensive 2-day modules, you will experience more than 150 hours of relevant strategic content. Designed to strengthen the skills of all LSHT innovative thinkers, you will be able to:
Pharmaceuticals and devices development isn’t a linear journey and operates more and more in a virtual environment where stakeholders’ roles change. To be successful in this field, you need to have a good understanding of the different challenges and opportunities stakeholders encounter. In this module, you will learn how different groups in the LSHT ecosystem relate to one another and what their roles and expectations are. Through real-life situations and case studies, you will look at the complete development cycle from discovery to market and witness how having the ability to rapidly map and connect key stakeholders to important milestones is a crucial part of producing a realistic development plan.
Understanding the market access and regulatory environments in the LSHT industry is key to successfully commercializing projects. Using real-life situations and case studies, this module explores the different challenges and perspective stakeholders encounter, as well as the strategic issues and market decisions that researchers and LSHT companies might consider at different stages to optimize business development.
This interactive module aims to give you a head start against your competitors by introducing you to the world of design thinking. This method focuses on solving problems by paying attention to the solution instead of the problem itself. Using design-thinking concepts such as rapid iterations, human-centred design, and collaboration and teamwork, you will learn and practise how to apply this strategy to your own ideas.
In this module, you will continue to delve into the world of design thinking which will allow you to understand the concepts on a deeper level in order to retrieve them more easily for use in the future.
Early in your startup's journey, your goal is to validate your business idea by getting out of the building and interviewing people who might have something to tell you about the problem they would like to solve—and by making sense of what they tell you.
This module will introduce you to the process of business modelling as a thinking framework that can help you guide your idea into a sellable product. To do that, you will need to know how to run insightful discovery interviews, and how to identify and validate your customer segments—the customers who will be buying your product.
In this module, you will gain an understanding about the biopharma ecosystem from commercialization to consumers. Using both case studies and real-life situations, you will explore important elements of marketing and clinical research such as the necessity of planning early, involving the key stakeholders, public relations, the need for a comprehensive plan, and risk management.
As leaders, we can only affect and change things of which we are consciously aware. This is why the first step in building executive or managerial presence is to be self-aware. In order to succeed, leaders need to possess the curiosity to uncover blind spots and the vulnerability to openly seek feedback. This module focuses on the art of leadership—the language, models and frameworks that, when used appropriately, can create a positive impact on individuals, teams and organizations. We will hone in on building your skills in emotional intelligence in order to equip you with the attitudes and behaviours needed to forge higher quality relationships with customers and colleagues.
Before you start executing your business idea, you first need to function as a learning organization whose goal is not to sell but to acquire as much unbiased information as possible, about your customers and what they need, to avoid spending time, money and resources on something that no one is willing to pay for.
This module will introduce you to the skills that you need to discover your customer personas who will be buying your product or service—their jobs, pains, gains and motivators, as well as the personas who influence the buying decisions of your customer personas. All this will lead you to identify the value that your product or service will offer to them.
You have 30 seconds to pitch your most brilliant idea to a stranger. How do you introduce yourself? And what do you choose to say?
This module will help you tell your story and build an effective elevator pitch that captures the listener's attention and leaves them wanting to know more about you and your idea. It will also help you identify the size and worth of your idea in the market, to make your story and the opportunity you are pitching even more compelling.
You only get one chance to pitch your idea… Make it count!
As you get closer to a validated customer segment and the identified value propositions for this segment, you will need to start thinking about the viability of your business model—how will you make money from this adventure, and what will be the main cost drivers?
This module will introduce you to financial and cash flow modelling, as a process for quantifying your ideas by putting numbers in your business model (BMC) to test assumptions and understand key consequences of these assumptions on the viability of your business.
Validating your business idea starts with customer discovery interviews. But true validation comes when someone actually pays to have access to your product or service. This module will introduce you to the basics of “marketing” and “sales.” You will learn about what it takes to create the marketing assets you need to communicate your story, and the steps you need to follow to get your story out into the world. And you will learn about the sales processes and mindset you need to be able to get, keep and grow your customer base, starting with your first customer.
This module will act as an introduction to the core concepts of financial management and firm value maximization. Key concepts covered in this module will include valuing corporate securities, estimating cash flow, and making capital budget decisions. By the end of this module, you will understand conceptual frameworks underlying valuation and asset pricing and mechanics that determine the firm’s cost of capital.
The objective of this module is to ensure that you understand the relation between a company’s strategic decisions, business activities and financial statements. Using primarily case studies, we will focus on the different financing models in the LSHT industry and how risk is managed. We will also examine how boards of directors and investors can gauge the effectiveness of managerial stewardship in the creation of shareholder value.
Improved biological understanding in oncology has led to unprecedented therapeutic breakthroughs. In this module, we will focus on the exploration of new developments in drugs for cancer and entrepreneurial opportunities in cancer biology. We will discuss the challenges in drug development that the field experiences as well as highlight opportunities from the perspectives of different stakeholders. This session will help you understand the emerging trends in oncological drug development in order to foster an entrepreneurial mindset specific to the field.
Medical technologies offer a wide range of solutions in the health system. In the form of software or hardware solutions, used for screening, diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation, they considerably modify the offer of care. During this session, you will see the different steps that must be taken to bring the medical device from proof of concept to commercialization, including regulatory steps, licensing, preclinical and clinical validation, financing, and deployment in the health network. A dozen medical technology entrepreneurs, project leaders' specialist coaches and practitioners will present the innovation journey with many examples from their personal trajectory.
Innovation, cost and disruptive technologies have led to new LSHT business models that improve productivity, increase success rate and accelerate market access. This module will introduce:
We will examine the opportunities and challenges these concepts offer to use real-life situations and case studies.
By improving their command of the supply chain, companies deliver maximum value to the consumer while minimizing costs. This module covers the fundamental decisions and trade-offs related to the operations and supply chain management of a firm. We will examine strategic issues such as industry dynamics and competition, and the response firms might develop to handle such issues. You will also have the chance to explore some of the organizational, managerial, and other conditions required for firms to maximize their operational innovation.
It is essential that you know how to deliver excellent pitches in various environments. This module will give you the tools needed to do just that. Core principles such as who, why, what, how and when will be explained, and will provide you with practical skills for delivering your pitch wherever you may be. You will practise these skills in a “Dragon’s Den” style simulation with judges, and will receive feedback from experienced coaches and from your peers.
Life Sciences and Health Technologies (LSHT) Industry Overview | February 19, 2021 |
LSHT Market Access and Regulatory Environment | February 20, 2021 |
Customers, Marketing, Public Relations, and Crisis Management: An LSHT Perspective | April 17, 2021 |
Measuring and Reporting Financial Performance | October 15 & 16, 2021 |
Development in Oncology — In collaboration with IRICoR |
November 19, 2021 |
Development of innovative medical technologies |
November 20, 2021 |
New Value Propositions Among LSHT Businesses | December 17, 2021 |
Manufacturing Excellence | December 18, 2021 |
Module 1- Life Sciences and Health Technologies (LSHT) Industry Overview | February 19, 2021 |
LSHT Market Access and Regulatory Environment | February 20, 2021 |
Module 2 - Design Thinking Concepts - Part 1 | March 19, 2021 |
Design Thinking Concepts - Part 2 | March 20, 2021 |
Module 3 - Business Modelling, Interviewing and Customer Segmentation | April 16, 2021 |
Customers, Marketing, Public Relations, and Crisis Management: An LSHT Perspective | April 17, 2021 |
Module 4 - Executive Presence – A Leadership Capability for the 21st century | May 14 & 15, 2021 |
Module 5 - Personas, Customer Journey Mapping and Value Proposition | June 18, 2021 |
Elevator Pitch and Market Sizing | June 19, 2021 |
Module 6 - Financial and Cash Flow Modelling | September 10, 2021 |
Sales and Marketing Basics | September 11, 2021 |
Module 7 - Financing 101 Bootcamp — ONLINE (optional) |
|
Measuring and Reporting Financial Performance |
October 15 & 16, 2021 |
Module 8 - Development in Oncology — In collaboration with IRICoR |
November 12, 2021 |
Development of Innovative Medical Technologies |
November 13, 2021 |
Module 9 - New Value Propositions Among LSHT Businesses + Diversity | December 17, 2021 |
Manufacturing Excellence | December 18, 2021 |
Module 10 - Storytelling and Pitching | January 14, 2022 |
Dragons' Den | January 15, 2022 |
Bilingual (French and English)*
*PREREQUISITE - Participants must be fluent in both English and French.
Friday and Saturday — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
20 days — 10 modules
$485 CAD per day — See à la carte sessions
$5,890 — 25% discount
$5,890 — 25% discount
$7,850 CAD
The program fee covers tuition and program materials. Upon successful completion of the course, participants will receive a Smart Certificate signed by representatives from the John Molson Executive Centre – Concordia University, Montréal InVivo and the Université de Montréal.
This program qualifies for the tuition tax credit (Federal T2202 and Provincial Relevé 8).
Seats are limited. Complete payment is required to reserve a seat.
REQUIREMENTS AND CONDITIONS
By registering to the program, the participants commit to attending all in-class modules. If not, the academic director could apply financial penalties or decide on an eviction from the program.
The participants commit to taking an active part in group work sessions, even if the project they work on is not theirs.
In order to be certified, participants will have to pass the pitch perfect exam on the last day of the program.
Montréal InVivo is proud to launch a Grant Award Competition offering to SME’s employees or entrepreneurs a $3000 scholarship to develop their entrepreneurship skills by enrolling in the Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Development Program.
Deadline to apply: February 8, 2021
Montréal InVivo is proud to annonce the support of the City of Montréal, which is launching a Grant Award competition offering women the opportunity to develop their skills by enrolling in the Entrepreneurship Development Program in Life Sciences.
Experienced, passionate, innovative. These experts are leaders in their field:
Denis deBlois, PhD
Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy
Université de Montréal
Denis DeBlois is a professor of pharmacology at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Université de Montréal, where he teaches drug discovery and development. He is director of the Bachelor program on Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Head of the honour program on Drug discovery, development and evaluation at the PhD level. Dr. deBlois has published over 85 scientific publications and book chapters, mainly on the response to tissue injury. He has over 7 years of experience as a scientific consultant for the pharmaceutical industry in Canada and the USA and is an alumnus of the American Course on Drug Development and Regulatory Sciences (2010) from the University of California, San Francisco. He is co-director of the Research Group on Drug Discovery and Evaluation at Université de Montréal (GRUM) and board member of the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS). He is Chair of the Pharmaceutical Science World Congress to be held in Montreal in 2020 with the International Federation of Pharmacy (FIP).
Xavier-Henri Hervé
Honorary PhD
District 3 Innovation Centre
Reena Atanasiadis
Dean, Williams School of Business
Bishop's University
Michelle Savoie, MBA, MPH, PhD, LL.M, IAS.S
Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy
Université de Montréal
Michelle Savoie is an Associate Professor of Practical Training at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal and CEO, Consilio Manuque. Until July 2015, she was also CEO of Montréal InVivo.
Mrs. Savoie has over 25 years of experience in the life sciences and pharmaceutical sector. She has held strategic positions at Schering Canada, Eli Lilly Canada and Bristol-Myers Squibb and participated in several boards including those of the Quebec Network for Personalized Healthcare (PHC), Montréal InVivo and Personalized Medicine Partnership for Cancer. She currently participated on the NEOMED Institute’s and the International Congress on PHC’s boards as well as on the Fonds de solidarité FTQ—New Economy Investment Committee. She was actively involved in the creation of the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery, the Quebec PHC Strategy, NEOMED and the early phase clinical research initiatives.
A biochemist by training, she also completed an MBA, a Masters in Public Health, a PhD in biomedical sciences, a Masters in Law and Health policy and the Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Edna Chosack
Head Coach
District 3 Innovation Centre
With a wealth of international experience in taking ideas to market and always at the dynamic intersection of where entrepreneurship and experiential learning meet, Edna Chosack, M.Sc., MBA, is a Coach at District 3. Chosack co-founded Simbionix Inc. As co-founder and VP Strategic Marketing, she became internationally recognized as being one of a handful of experts who leverage medical-simulation experiential learning into business success stories and was instrumental in transforming Simbionix into an international surgical-simulation leader, acquired by 3D Systems. In Montreal, Edna established and served as Director of CAE’s surgical-simulation business line. She was a member of the advisory committee at McGill University’s Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning. She is also a strategic marketing and product management consultant, caring over her experience to other markets.
Jane Somerville
Program Director
District 3 Innovation Centre
Jane Somerville, MBA is the Director of Programs at District 3. In this role, she is responsible for leading and developing the program offering targeted to entrepreneurs running startups in Montreal. Jane is a passionate business professional with more than 25 years of experience working with Canadian entrepreneurs. Prior to joining D3, Jane worked at BDC where she helped small, medium and large companies across Canada, across all industry sectors, building and delivering innovative advisory services in strategic management, digital marketing and sales management.
Contact us if you wish to receive more information about this program.
Program Manager, Executive Education
Phone: 514-848-3960
Toll free: 1-866-333-2271
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