Advanced Biotechnology and Intellectual Property Rights
Course content
This course simulates a biotechnological innovation process, challenging participants to address advanced biotech problems while navigating the intellectual property rights (IPR) landscape. It begins with the presentation of diverse biotechnological challenges, followed by the formation of project groups. Each group initiates their project through a workshop focused on one of the selected challenge areas.
Throughout the course, students engage in theoretical and practical activities, including literature reviews and patent searches to define their project aims. They develop timelines, outline critical deliverables, and assess potential risks. As the projects evolve, emphasis shifts to evaluating scientific and commercial potential, analyzing the patent landscape, and constructing patent family trees. Later stages focus on funding strategies and exploring pathways to bring the innovation to market.
Lectures and workshops during the first six weeks provide guidance and support for group work, with opportunities for inter-group knowledge sharing through presentations and structured activities. Intellectual property rights are taught in parallel, ensuring students gain a comprehensive understanding of IPR in the context of biotech innovation.
The course culminates in week seven with group presentations of final outcomes, and project reports are submitted in week eight.
MSc Programme in Biotechnology - restricted elective
MSc in Business Administration and Bioentrepreneurship (UCPH/CBS)
The course adds to the innovation part of the MSc education in
the Biotechnology program and it is the final preparation for the
MSc thesis. On the Bioentrepreneurship program, this course
finalizes year one and it is the final preparation before moving on
to the second year at Copenhagen Business School.
After completion of the course the student is expected to have the
following knowledge, skills and competences:
Knowledge:
- Communicate in-depth knowledge on selected topics within the area
of biotechnology
- Describe the relationship between patenting and scientific
discovery
- Describe the patenting process and how it relates to the
international patent authorities and organizations.
- Understand patents as strategic tools in business development
- Understand how intellectual property rights
relates to and handles genetic sequences and other biological
material
Skills:
- Read and interpret state of the art scientific literature within
the area of biotechnology
- Evaluate which strategies and laboratory procedures to use to
solve technical problems within the biotechnological area
- Use and understand methods in molecular biology in the context of
research, development and innovation
- Determine the patent landscape for a new biotechnological
product
Competences:
- Make a project plan including aim, a timeline with
deliverables and expected deadlines, risk assessment and future
perspectives.
- Exploit knowledge of advanced technologies and products based
on animal, plant and microbial biotechnologies. As examples,
technologies could include biomarkers, enzymes, vaccines,
bioremediation, development and tailoring of production organisms,
diagnostics, rational drug design and the use of animal and
cell-based models. Products could comprise food/feed ingredients,
diagnostic tools, biomedicine, pharmaceuticals and transgenic crop
plants and animals.
Lectures, workshops, group work, discussions and presentations in relation to the project.
An IPR compendium
Selected scientific papers, reviews and patent material relevant
for the specific project.
Competencies corresponding to the following courses: Mikrobiologi, Molekylær genetik, From genomics to Plant Breeding, Mammalian Genomics, Bioinformatik 1, Biokemi 1, Heterologous Expression, Genome and Cell Biology or similar is recommended.
Open for credit transfer students and other external students. Apply here:
Credit transfer students apply here
Other external students apply here
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Oral examination, 15 minutes
- Type of assessment details
- Oral examination without preparation. The exam will start with
a 3 min pitch presentation on the project from the student. Exam
topics will cover the biological background of the project, the
project phases, general and specific intellectual property right
issues.
Weight: Oral examination 100 %. - Examination prerequisites
-
An approved written project report, made in groups, is a prerequisite for access to the oral examination.
- Aid
- Only certain aids allowed (see description below)
Use of GAI is permitted for the written project report according to the university rules.
- It will be mandatory for the student to include a standard declaration in their project report, to indicate whether generative AI has been used or not.
- The student may use GAI for dialogue and sparring before and during the preparation of their projects but may not delegate the writing of the assignment to GAI tools.
- If material from GAI is included as a source (directly or in edited form) in the submission, the same requirements for quotation marks and citations apply as for any other sources. Otherwise, it will be considered plagiarism.
The students are not allowed to use telecommunication or AI-tools during the oral exam.
The students can bring the following to their oral exam:
- A presentation on paper or on an electronic device
- Their report on paper or on an electronic device
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
More than one internal examiner
- Re-exam
-
If the exam registration requirement is not fulfilled, the written report must be handed in one week before the oral reexamination and approved prior to the oral reexamination.
Criteria for exam assessment
In order to achieve the maximum grade of 12, the
student shall give an excellent performance during the exam
displaying a high level of command of all aspects of both the
biotechnology and the intellectual property rights. The student
shall give a clear presentation of the group project and show an
exhaustive comprehension of all the relevant topics touched
during the exam with no or only few minor weaknesses.
Specific knowledge, skills and competencies, see learning
outcome.
Single subject courses (day)
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 30
- Class Instruction
- 20
- Preparation
- 30
- Practical exercises
- 20
- Project work
- 100
- Guidance
- 5
- Exam
- 1
- English
- 206
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- SBIK26001U
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
-
1 block
- Placement
- Block 4
- Schedulegroup
-
B
- Capacity
- 80
- Studyboard
- Study Board for the Biological Area
Contracting department
- Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Course Coordinator
- Claus Bøttcher Jørgensen (7-6770657977666e4477797268326f7932686f)
Teacher
Claus Bøttcher Jørgensen, Peter Ulvskov, Peter Horn Møller, Bodil Jørgensen, Hanne Frøkiær,
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