Leaders use war gaming to strengthen UK biotech

pharmafile | October 22, 2008 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing biotech 

Bioscience leaders from both sides of the Atlantic have joined in a war game that could help boost the UK biotech industry.

The simulation allowed players to test-drive a range of biotech business strategies and assess their impact on stakeholders.

Those involved hope it will show UK companies how to emulate their US counterparts, who tend to experience greater stability and higher levels of trust from investors.

Dr Gill Samuels, chair of the Bioscience Futures Forum (BFF), explained it brought people together in a way that promoted innovation.

"The consequences of what [the players] do in the game, remain in the game – but they can see those consequences ripple through all the stakeholders," she said. "It's a way of addressing complex, multi-factorial issues with a wide range of stakeholders in a way that develops new relationships and new ideas, and hopefully will change both thought and behaviour."

War gaming began in the military, but is rarely used in business development. The BFF – a UK body that examines regulation and reputation issues for biotech – chose to commission a war game because one of its members had experienced the technology in the Navy.

The biotech simulation was run by Simulstrat, a group spun out from the Defence Studies department at King's College in London. It was held over two days in July, with teams representing a UK biotech, a US biotech, UK investors and US investors, along with a final group acting as the market environment.

The BFF has since produced recommendations that will go to government, companies and trade associations at the end of October.

Though un-published at the time of writing, BFF lead and former European director of science policy at Pfizer Dr Samuels indicated the exercise had been a success.

She added that war gaming was a useful tool and, though participants could be wary of playing alongside real-life competitors, their fears were soon overcome.

Samuels said: "People realise that the problem is outside and to be solved. And it is only by working together as a team that we can solve the problem. Once that [realisation] happens, it is fantastic."

UK biotech faces greater cultural challenges than the US, where companies receive more money from specialist investors and tend to be led by more experienced managers.

But according to Samuels, these are the only elements letting the UK down, as British science is still first rate.

She added: "I think the science is there, and the scientists are there. I think we need to get the financial pieces sorted out. We need to make sure we train some of the scientists – in some kind of boot camp as it were – to understand more about how to make a project into a portfolio, and what to be aware of."

The success of the war game will be judged on whether stakeholders follow the report's recommendations and change their thinking – a process that will be tracked over the coming months.

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