Biotechnology consulting (or biotech consulting) refers to the practice of assisting organizations involved in research and commercialization of

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

in improving their methods and efficiency of production, and approaches to R&D. This assistance is usually provided in the form of specialized technological advice and sharing of expertise. Both start-up and established organizations would hire biotechnology consultants mainly to receive an independent and professional advice from key opinion leaders, individuals with extensive knowledge and experience in a particular area of biotechnology or

biological science Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...

s, and, often, to outsource their projects for implementation by well qualified individuals. Large management consulting firms would often be able to provide technological advice as well, depending on the qualifications of their consulting team. With the growth of

pharmaceutical companies The pharmaceutical industry is a Medicine, medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or Self-medicate, self-administered b ...

, biotechnology consulting has recently developed into an industry of its own and separated from the

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

industry that traditionally also provides technological advice on R&D projects to various industries. This has also been fueled by the impact various conflicts of interests can have on

commercialization Commercialisation or commercialization is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into e ...

when biotechnology organizations contract services from

academic institution An academic institution is an educational institution dedicated to education and research, which grants academic degrees. See also academy and university. Types * Primary schools – (from French ''école primaire'') institutions where childre ...

s or government scientistsJeffrey L. Fox. Biotech consulting, investing by NIH scientists curbed. Nature Biotechnology. (2005) 23, 274

This is exemplified by the successful emergence of many consulting companies dedicated exclusively to servicing the biotech industry. Occasionally,

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

s and Phd students engage in biotechnology consulting, either commercially or free of charge. A special type of consulting is

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

strategy and management consulting or simply patent consulting which specifically emphasizes on the scope of patent rights versus R&D in industry. It also assets successful commercialization of patentable matter. The primary aim of patent consulting company is to assist various small, medium and large corporation in realizing their research project toward successful patent registration with minimized danger of infringement and other risks that patent registrations may be subjected to prior to commercialization. One example of patent consulting firm is ''The Patent World''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biotechnology Consulting Consulting by type Biotechnology organizations