Business Acceleration Manager- MediCity Scotland

Location: BioCity Scotland campus, Newhouse, Scotland Full time, permanent. Salary: competitive, plus participation in BioCity Group employee share option scheme

Overview BioCity Group is seeking a dynamic, entrepreneurial person to lead its company creation and accelerator programme activities at its new medical technology incubator near Glasgow. The successful candidate will join the wider BioCity Group team and benefit from the opportunities and rewards arising from being part of this fast growing business.

Background

The BioCity Group is dedicated to channelling entrepreneurship to meet the world’s healthcare needs. We believe much of the innovation needed to tackle the challenges of an expanding and ageing population along with rising costs of care will come from new entrepreneurial companies. So at each of our locations we provide the best environment for these growing and ambitious life science businesses to maximise their chances of success.

BioCity was first established in Nottingham in 2003. It was one of the first incubators offering laboratories alongside business support to early stage companies in the life science sector. Since then, the BioCity Group has grown to include locations in Cheshire, Scotland and Nottingham and has launched MediCity in Nottingham and now Scotland.

Whilst in the early years the facilities at BioCity led to a focus on companies in drug discovery and delivery, therapeutics and medical devices, the launch of MediCity widens the type of companies to also include, alongside med tech, the areas of digital health, well-being and beauty.

The first MediCity facility, MedCity Nottingham, opened in early 2014 and already has more than 30 companies within its community. MediCity Nottingham is based within the former Boots Healthcare International facility, at the heart of the Walgreens Boots Alliance campus, a new Enterprise Zone in Nottingham.

With the support of Walgreens Boots Alliance, our partner in MediCity Nottingham, our goal is to grow MediCity to become the global innovation leader for medical technology and related businesses with the recognition of the Newhouse facility as the premier hub in Scotland.

MediCity Scotland has approximately 12,000 sq ft of newly refurbished space in which to house businesses. These will range from established companies seeking to be part of the medtech ecosystem created at MediCity, to very early stage businesses or pre-start-ups using hot desks and meeting rooms. The facility includes workshops/labs, offices, meeting rooms and individual workstations.

BioCity and MediCity now house over 200 companies. There is a 91% survival rate over 12 years of companies at BioCity Nottingham and Mobius, our internal investment fund, has 6.7x return.

BioCity Group has created a suite of accelerator programmes and activities to ensure the ongoing creation and success of companies at the BioCity and MediCity sites.

1 Accelerator Programmes

The BioCity/MediCity Innovation Engine is made up of 4 stages of accelerator programme namely; Spark, Develop, Launch and Xcel. It is designed to help drive companies from earliest stage to rapid growth and, where appropriate, final exit. The goal of the programmes is to increase the number and quality of start-ups being created and subsequently housed and financed by and growing in the facilities at BioCity/MediCity.

The 4 stages of the Innovation Engine are; Spark – themed and curated, business ideation and networking, events to help increase the likelihood of start-ups; Develop – 13 week programme that harnesses tools like ‘Business Model Canvas’ and ‘Lean Start-up’ to provide robust challenge and improved customer discovery to early stage ideas; Launch – 10 week programme that helps the more developed opportunities become business ready and investment ready; Xcel – teaching and coaching entrepreneurial excellence for company growth.

These activities are intrinsically linked to, and will facilitate investments from, the Alderley Park Ventures Fund and Mobius Venture Fund, the 2 early stage investment funds run by BioCity. The Role

You will lead the accelerator programme and business coaching activities at MediCity Scotland. Your role will be integral to building the MediCity Scotland incubator into Scotland’s leading centre for the development of healthcare and medical technology companies by driving and supporting the creation and growth of early stage businesses in the sector.

You will work with and be supported by the coaching teams at the other sites while also benefiting from the experience and support infrastructure of the BioCity Group. However, you will have primary responsibility for:

• The delivery of all programmes at MediCity Scotland i.e. o Spark – Establish a targeted annual events programme with a focus on innovation in health and wellbeing and a particular emphasis on medtech o Develop – Run 2 Develop programmes per year with 6-10 participant businesses o Launch – Run in conjunction with the other sites a Launch programme (min 1 per year) o Xcel – Ongoing programmes and coaching delivered according to the needs of the tenant companies • Recruitment of coaches to provide full time or ad hoc support to businesses at MediCity and on the start-up programmes • Recruitment of participants to the programmes of the requisite number and quality • The ongoing evolution of the content and delivery of the different programmes • Staying up to date with latest start-up tools and techniques from all sectors and geographies • Liaising with other BioCity Group coaches to share best practice, content development and coaching techniques and provide best possible support to participant companies • Working closely with all partners including Scottish Enterprise, large pharma and healthcare, end user groups, investors, university tech transfer offices and business schools, NHS and existing, networks, events and programmes • Monitoring and reporting for the financial and key performance indicators of the programmes and ensuring any requirements of any public sector funding are met • Working closely with Alderley Park and Mobius Investment Managers to ensure the programme delivers an ongoing pipeline of high quality investment opportunities • Working closely with the Incubator Manager to ensure new companies are suitably housed and existing companies suitably supported

2 • Facilitating the transition of early-stage companies into Scottish Enterprise’s High Growth Programme Skills and Experience

The successful candidate will require:

• A passion for helping entrepreneurs succeed • Confident and convincing presentation skills • Strong focus on process and strong project management skills • Strong academic background • Understanding, if not direct experience, of starting a business and of the requirements of early stage investors • Knowledge of business start-up tools such as Value Proposition Canvas, Lean Start-up assumption testing and other ‘evidence based’ entrepreneurship tools • Experience of using other established business coaching and consultancy tools • Knowledge of accelerator programmes • Relevant experience of, ideally, the healthcare, medtech, diagnostics sectors or the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors

The successful candidate should also have:

• Ability to assess early stage business opportunities • Ability to communicate effectively with entrepreneurs and start up team • Credibility and communications skills required to engage with a range of partner organisations to involve them in the programmes • An understanding of and interest in personal coaching and behavioural change Candidate Profile

The successful candidate(s) will likely have experience in some, if not all of, the following areas: start- ups, business coaching, management consultancy, early stage investment management and accelerator programmes and in some, if not all of, the following sectors: healthcare, med tech, biotech and/or pharmaceuticals.

To Apply

Please submit applications including a CV to: Lorna Richardson at [email protected] Include details of current salary/ salary expectations and notice period.

Closing date: 11 September 2015

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