Posted by: Steve Kozak

I attended our Voices of Bio - “Strategic Partnerships” program today and learned a LOT, a whole lot, from our experts.  Speaking of which, they were awesome - Ken Carter, Founder & Former CEO, Avalon Pharmaceuticals (Note:  Clinical Data finalized its acquisition of Avalon in May 2009), Rob Gllison, VP Corp Development, Martek and Michael Tardugno, CEO, Celsion - far too many words of wisdom to share here.  The keys in developing strategic partnerships:

1) Focus - do your homework, look for companies that share an interest in your science, research and/or technology.  Do NOT cast the wide net. Focus.

2) Find your Champion…within that company.  And for bio & life science companies, it’s typically a scientist - someone who will understand and appreciate the science/technology and can help bring it to upper management. 

3) Attend conferences - attending conferences, events, and other industry gatherings are a great way to network, meet face-to-face and begin the process of developing a relationship, a relationship that leads to a partnership.

4) Be patient - strategic partnerships take time, you need to understand what they (your partner) are looking for, their intentions…and this takes time.  At least, the best deals do.

I hope the leaders who attended today learned a thing or two, a nugget that they can take back and apply to their own businesses.  And, who knows what partnerships will develop among those who attended today’s session.  That, to me, is the cool part.