Report on the first Institut Pasteur Summer School

The first Institut Pasteur Summer School on company start-up in the area of life sciences, organized in partnership with Medicen Paris Region, took place from July 7 to 9 on the Paris campus.

This event reflected a real determination to encourage entrepreneurship and technology transfer activities within the Institut Pasteur, as laid down in the strategic plan.

More than 60 people attended the summer school, which provided a forum for fruitful discussions between speakers and participants during the lectures and workshops and also during the breaks. This lively event represented a unique opportunity to examine the meaning of entrepreneurship. The summer school attracted participants from a wide variety of backgrounds, including PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and academic researchers as well as representatives from start-ups, the Chamber of Commerce and student organizations.

The eclectic line-up of speakers – all top-tier professionals dedicated to their field – also contributed to the quality of the discussions. Entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists, legal experts, sales representatives and heads of business incubators – representing all aspects of business creation in life sciences – joined forces to make this summer school a real success.

This event should encourage the organizers to continue their efforts to boost entrepreneurship in the Institut Pasteur's teaching activities. Following on from this first edition, the Institut Pasteur is hoping to run a second summer school in 2017, again in partnership with Medicen Paris Region.