HR crisis threatens to undermine growth in Canada’s nascent biotech industry: Study

By Debbie Lawes

Canada’s biotechnology sector says it is facing a “pending crisis” unless immediate action is taken to deal with a dearth of experienced executives and managers who can navigate companies through the complex process of commercialization. The warning is highlighted in a nation-wide survey of individuals from industry, research institutions, academia and government involved in biotechnology.

Released by the Biotechnology Human Resources Council (BHRC), the year-long study is the most comprehensive examination to date of the skills shortage facing Canada’s nascent biotechnology industry. It paints a picture of a growing, yet vulnerable sector that lacks the necessary human resources to commercialize scientific discoveries.

As companies move from R&D to market-readiness, the demand for qualified managers, intellectual property experts and regulatory affairs specialists is outstripping demand for scientists and technicians. This is particularly true for smaller companies, which account for 82 per cent of the estimated 445 biotech firms in Canada.

“We definitely need more well-rounded experience at that senior management level in taking a product from concept through to, and past, commercialization,” says Janet Lambert, president of Biotech Canada and a member of BHRC’s board. “The last thing we want is for a lack of human resources or a lack skills or expertise to be another choke point for biotechnology growth and success.”

The 166-page study, entitled Converging Science and Leadership: The Key to the Future, identifies several pressing industry needs, including stronger management and corporate governance, increasing networking and learning opportunities for executives and helping students acquire the ‘job-ready’ skills in demand by industry.

The study suggests that educators need to “blend scientific and technical training with basic business skills and related areas such as intellectual property and regulatory affairs.” The University of Alberta, for example, offers an MBA specializing in technology commercialization.

Respondents also expressed concern about the lack of funding for commercialization of promising research discoveries, and a weakness in financing mechanisms that limit their ability to pay competitive salaries and attract top talent.

NATIONAL STRATEGY NEEDED

BHRC executive director Claire Thifault says the study provides a “real-life picture” of how rapid commercial and technological progress is beginning to stress the industry’s HR capacity. The BHRC calls for a national strategy and concerted action by industry, regional biotech associations, governments and educators to deal with the problems.

BHRC officials will be meeting with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) November 19 to present the report’s findings and recommend that they be integrated into the federal government’s anticipated Workplace Skills Strategy, announced by Prime Minister Paul Martin earlier this year.

Martin has said the sector councils will play a role in the new strategy, which is part of the government’s five-point strategy to build a more globally competitive and sustainable economy. The Workplace Skills Strategy is intended to ensure Canada has the skilled workers it needs for the future, including steps to upgrade worker skills, enhance apprenticeship programs, and make it easier to attract new immigrants.

“The government’s role in innovation is to attract candidates and to provide that brain gain for Canadian biotechnology,” says Lambert. “The federal government has opportunities with regard to immigration policies, skilling and re-skilling through HRSDC. There’s definitely significant roles government can play.”

STRONGER ROLE FOR BHRC

The BHRC is also looking for an increased role for itself – and increased funding – to implement the study’s recommendations. The council currently receives $500,000 annually from HRSDC. Thifault says more funding would enable it provide industry with data on issues such as relevant training programs in each province, “hot” biotech jobs and a list of Canadian ex-patriots with coveted skills.

“I think we’re missing a lot in our mandate by not having the research capacity to provide the kind of information that industry needs,” she says.

BHRC officials are also taking their study on the road this fall, meeting with representations from academia, industry, government and with Canada’s five regional biotech associations, including Ag-West Biotech, MARS Discovery District and BIOQuébec, to develop a more coordinated approach to networking, training, information sharing and other issues.

“What we’re suggesting is to integrate all these efforts that are happening regionally. The BHRC is very well positioned to be the clearing house, the voice, for HR,” says Thifault, adding they want to show tangible results in the first year. “We have to move quickly,” she says, “Companies that have FDA approval and are ready to move to commercialization, they won’t wait. They’ll go outside of Canada to where the skilled people are to develop their product. If we don’t act now, there will be a crisis.”

Converging Science and Leadership is a follow-up to a similar study released in 1996, known as the Paget Report, which resulted in the creation of the BHRC in April 1997. The BHRC is one of 29 national sector councils covering about 40 per cent of Canada’s labour market.

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