We Know the What and the Why. Now we need the How.

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By Peter Pekos
President and CEO, Dalton Pharma Services

“I know how important it is to mold the future rather than
to allow the future to mold you.” John H. Dessauer, 1971

I don’t expect any readers of this issue to recognize the name of Dr. John Dessauer. His immense contribution to the methods we use for innovation, product development and business management was made a generation ago. He built and directed the research team that commercialized a patent for ‘electrophotography’ and turned a little company in Rochester, NY into the Xerox Corporation.

The phenomenal growth and success of Xerox in those days has been largely forgotten in the six or seven decades that have since passed. My reason for recalling John’s contribution is its relevance to what we can do together to maximize the growth of the biotech industry in our province and our country.

John and the CEO he worked under believed their work had great significance not only for the success of their company but for the well-being of mankind. They were aligned in their vision, and their alignment, dedication, enthusiasm and incredible persistence (it took 16 years),was transmitted to the rest of the company and to the stakeholders. One of these stakeholders was the original inventor, Chester Carlson, who provided a pivotal idea at a crucial stage in the product development. The President managed long-term debt, depreciation, irate shareholders, and other business challenges in ways that became a model for future North American executives. Dr. Dessauer introduced new R&D practices that we now take for granted. One of these, to their astonishment, was the expectation that company engineers must also be inventors. Another one is now known as PERT (Performance Evaluation and Review Technique) which began as a goal-setting and following up type of system.

We all know what we want to achieve in Ontario: a flourishing biotech industry whose growth matches or exceeds that of any other global centre and one in which the benefits of this collective growth flow to all of the participants, including established enterprises, new ventures, service providers, suppliers, educational institutions and the community. The question has always been HOW can we make this happen?

I have long been convinced we, collectively need to embrace the umbrella of basic principles that turned the little Haloid Company into Xerox. These principles consist of shared vision, alignment around this vision, dedication to succeed, responsible goal setting to create a path for success and regular evaluation of the progress towards these goals.

At the 2010 BIO International Convention in Chicago last month, I had an opportunity to experience this approach in action. It was, I must confess, an eye-opener. Not only did it involve the application of all of the elements I have just mentioned but the participants exhibited a genuine shared enthusiasm.

It was infectious! I was part of a group that met with a top level delegation from the Australian province of Victoria. At 5.4 million people, Victoria is comparable in population to Ontario, and the capital city of Melbourne is in many ways similar to Toronto. I was able to probe many aspects of what they were doing to build biotech in their province. During these discussions the officials from Victoria were fully engaged, aligned and focused on their area. The mission of building biotech in Victoria appeared to be run as a business with an overall strategy, clear objectives, and a program of critical review of progress toward these objectives. A major goal for 2010, for example, was the creation of 10 firms with a market cap of over AUS$250 million.

Victoria’s strategy and objectives are closely connected with the existing, the new, and the evolving national programs of Australia for biotech growth. There is a lot more that could be said about how Victoria is striving for excellence. If you are committed to achievement in Ontario, I strongly recommend that you take a close look. Start with www.ausbiotech.org and www.business.vic.gov.au

One of the keynote speakers at BIO was former US President Bill Clinton. I was not able to attend his lecture, but what I have heard him say on other occasions has struck a resonant chord. After leaving office he established the William J. Clinton Foundation to deal with worldwide issues that demand urgent action. What he tells influential people who want to become involved in one of the causes of the Foundation, be it global warming or AIDS, is “Tell me HOW you are going to turn your good intentions into measurable results?” “I am”, he has said, “going to spend the rest of my life asking ‘How?’”.

A few highlights from my own ‘HOW TO?’ list for biotech growth is given below:

-Create a long term road map and plan with 3 year evaluation period with clear priorities
-Pick technology areas where we are strong, that are leading edge and make big bets
-Align Provincial programs with Federal and Regional initiatives to ensure maximum impact
-Support innovative export oriented companies
-Support the venture community and make it easier to invest in and create innovative companies
-Improve research tax credit programs
-Appoint a Chief Scientific Officer for the province and federal governments (Ontario is already doing this)
-Leverage investment in research centers of excellence by giving vouchers to industry to use service providers in our provinces
-Create a Federal SBIR program like that in the US and deliver the funds through IRAP
-Convert Heath Care spending to investment in home grown innovation
-Have government departments put out calls to solve their problems and give grants to Canadian companies to solve them
-Tell stories about our leaders and people helped by technology celebrating our entrepreneurs

These are not necessarily original thoughts and I know many of you have ideas as well. Let’s commit ourselves to making a difference.

................ Peter