Biotechnology — the use of living organisms to develop drugs and therapies - is an area of increasing focus for investors, the pharma industry and the general public. In 2014 McKinsey explained: "Investing in biotech R&D has yielded better returns than the pharma-industry average. The current biologics-development pipeline supports an outlook of continued healthy growth."

For startups in this sector the technical and financial challenges can be daunting. For financing, some large firms finance the scientific work of smaller companies and then takeovers the development once clinical trials are needed. AstraZeneca's Chief Executive, Pascal Soriot, has explained that they "will do what a biotech would do" to build a development model based on "entrepreneurial spirit and speed."

Format for the Weekend

Friday 20 March: Delegates register for the event. There will then be a meal and a networking event. Following that, participants pitch their ideas to the rest of the attendees. There is a vote to choose the most compelling ideas and the owners of these then choose and ‘recruit’ co-founders from the other participants to form teams.

Saturday 21 March: A catered breakfast is served, after which a presentation on business model canvas will be given by Simon Stockley, the Teaching Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Cambridge Judge Business School. Delegates then continue to work on their business proposals with the assistance of a team of mentors. Lunch and dinner are provided.

Sunday 22 March: A catered breakfast is served, after which the delegates will be given a 30-minute presentation on  presentation skills. They then continue to work on their proposals with the mentors.  

At 5pm the teams get to pitch their ideas to the panel of judges, who select the winners.

The weekend concludes with a dinner and networking event.

To see what it's all about, please visit: http://www.up.co/communities/uk/cambridge/startup-weekend/5814