Grant applications are now available for the second edition of the internship programme aimed at business management students enrolled at the University of Barcelona or ESADE. The grants are to provide financial assistance to carry out internships at newly created biotech companies in the Barcelona Science Park (PCB). The project is sponsored by the Centre for Business Innovation and Development (CIDEM) and it is run by the PCB in conjunction with the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FGB) and Creapolis, ESADE's new business park. The project's aims are to expose students to the world of business management and biotechnology, encourage entrepreneurship in the area, and build teams of people with deep-seated management knowledge in the area, leading to higher quality, competitiveness and innovation in Catalonia's biotech sector.

The internships are to be carried out during 2008, last four months in length and involve half-days on-site. Applications are being sought specifically from ESADE students who have not yet finished their degree and from University of Barcelona (UB) students completing their final degree or certificate classes in the UB’s Faculty of Economics and Management Science or in the UB’s Business School. Now in its second year, the programme has expanded the number of participating companies from five in 2007 to eight this year. As a result, the number of internship grants available will be eight as well.

Most of the participating companies belong to the new PCB-Santander Bioincubator, which was set up by eleven technology spin-offs—mostly from the University of Barcelona—that focus their efforts on emerging areas in the life sciences (biomedicine, biotechnology, chemistry, nanotechnology and pharmacology). In the first year of the internship programme, two of the five interns completed their placement in Oryzon Genomics and CrystaX Pharmaceuticals, a pair of spin-offs that formed part of the original CIDEM-PCB Bioincubator and have now graduated. The other three students worked in Advancell, MicroArt, and CataloniaBIO, which is the Catalan Association of Biotech Companies. The decision to offer the programme again stems from the positive experience of the first year, which received a favourable assessment from participating students, companies and institutions in its final report.

Send curriculum vitae and any requests for further information to: direcciocientifica@pcb.ub.cat;