This bold initiative involves teams of academic and industry experts to identify the critical factors that will impact commercialization of life science technologies on human healthcare, from now until 2020 and beyond. 

Our long-term research plan includes the development of scenarios to describe different futures that may occur, which are summarized in a new report published in 2006.  In 2006 we also began an exploration of the Future of Biomedical Devices, in collaboration with the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation.  In Fall 2007 we brought together a select group of industry partners and experts from many fields in a Future of BioSciences Update event, to help us determine how best to monitor the scenarios we've developed in our Future of BioSciences project.

Going forward, our faculty-led team will use these scenarios to as a starting-point to monitor industry trends, winning and losing strategies, patterns of success and failure, stakeholder roles and other factors.  Our goal is to provide research-based insights to senior decision makers in firms that are developing, commercializing and/or deploying these emerging bioscience technologies. 

We have invited companies in many industries to participate in this exciting initiative, by joining our industry partner group, serving as corporate sponsors, attending workshops and conferences, and participating in interviews and surveys.

The Future of BioSciences

An Insight-Building Activity to Help Firms 
Develop and Deploy Emerging Bioscience Technologies

Since the Emerging Technologies Management Research Program was established in 1995, we have gained considerable insight into how industries are created and transformed by emerging technologies.  We are applying this knowledge to the exciting new life science technologies that are beginning to transform the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and which will eventually exert an impact on virtually every industry.  

These new technologies -- genomics/gene therapy, proteomics, bioinformatics... sometimes called the "omics"... are reshaping agriculture, biotechnology, computing,  education, manufacturing, medical practice, national defense, pharmaceuticals, venture capital, and almost every other area we can imagine. Add enzymatics, stem cell therapy, tissue engineering, therapeutic cloning, and we can see a vast array of innovations being researched in the life sciences.  Any of these scientific areas could result in a treatment or cure for a disease or medical condition that exists today...sadly, they could also face obstacles and failures.  

Consequently, the core faculty that guides the Mack Center for Technological Innovation has selected "BioSciences" as an industry that would benefit from a focused program of management research, insight-building through task group projects and conferences, and a collaboration by many stakeholders with an interest in identifying the forces that will shape the industry, drive the technologies forward, and enable development, commercialization and deployment.  In addition, as this industry evolves, we seek to identify new business models, winning strategies, and management approaches. 

We are engaged in this ambitious effort because we know that our efforts help decision makers plot a course that can dramatically improve human health, well-being, and longevity.  We are not alone in this undertaking.  This effort involves countless researchers, educators, businesspeople, media representatives, patient advocacy groups, government agencies and individual citizens and their families.  We hope that by applying our knowledge of how businesses and industries evolve, and what it takes to compete and succeed under conditions of high risk and uncertainty, we can contribute to this worthwhile endeavor. 

The Future of BioSciences Scenario Project

This ambitious long-term project anchors our research activity in the BioSciences initiative.  Since most bioscience technologies are still emerging, and the industry itself is in an embryonic stage, our faculty felt that our best "insight-building" approach would be to 1) identify the critical factors that will impact the bioscience from now until 2020, and 2) build scenarios to describe the future possibilities that might occur.

To provide a framework for this project, we held a series of workshops, meetings, conferences, and conducted extensive research including interviews with more than 30 industry experts. 

To provide scenario expertise, we invited the scenario consultants from Decision Strategies International (DSI) to collaborate on this project and in particular, the production of a report documenting our initial findings.  The result is a 132 page report entitled: "The Future of BioSciences: Four Scenarios for 2020 and Beyond" published in 2006. This report is co-edited by Paul J.H. Schoemaker (Research Director, Mack Center and Chairman, DSI) and Michael S. Tomczyk (Managing Director, Mack Center).

Program Leadership

The BioSciences initiative is guided by a distinguished group of senior Wharton faculty and staff including George Day, Terry Fadem, Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Harbir Singh and Michael Tomczyk. 

Other members of the Mack Center's core faculty who provide input and guidance include Raffi Amit, William Hamilton, Lori Rosenkopf, Nicolaj Siggelkow, Jitendra Singh and Sid Winter.  The Future of BioSciences project is directed by Prof. Schoemaker. 

Industry Support

This initiative is supported by a select group of sponsoring firms that include industry sponsors of the BioSciences Crossroads Initiative:  AstraZeneca, the Biomedical Research and Education Foundation (BREF), Cisco Systems, Deloitte Consulting, GlaxoSmithKline, Hitachi Chemical Research Center Inc., IBM, Infosys Technologies Ltd., Johnson & Johnson, the National Security Agency, Pfizer, and Procter and Gamble.  Corporate Sponsors of the Future of BioSciences report also include Akzo/Organon, Quest Diagnostics, Siemens Corporation, and Strategic Development Group (SDG).