From November 21 – 25th, 2022, 24 teams from SolBridge and our global partner universities gathered online to participate in the SolBridge International Business Plan Competition (IBPC) 2022. A total of 96 undergraduate students from 17 universities around the world worked on a real-world business problem delivered by BIONEER – Korea's leading biotechnology company.

At the beginning of the competition, Mr. Chang Hoon Kang, BIONEER’s Head of Strategic Planning, gave a brief overview of the company, its core products, and its global footprint in over 100 countries, before presenting the case that participants would need to work on over the following days.

In line with BIONEER's global pipeline expansion vision, the groups had to develop a business model and go-to-market strategy for BIONEER's next cash cow based on one of three proposed products/services, these being: Global Oligo Synthesis Center; IRON-qPCR™; and COSMERNA. In addition to the topic release, and to enable participants to tackle the case, SolBridge Professor Hyojin Nam delivered a special lecture on Global Marketing. The teams then had three days to research new markets and develop a business plan for their selected service.

After the preliminary round, eight teams moved on to the final round. Indonesia's Team Anagata from BINUS University won first place with their vision for "Realizing India's National Digital Health Mission with BIONEER's IRON-qPCR™'. Their investigation into such detailed aspects as regulatory compliance and national diplomacy impressed the judges. SolBridge's team Global Bridge came in second. The team demonstrated their resourcefulness in determining the best location for BIONEER's expansion and suggesting a practical market penetration strategy for the company’s IRON-qPCR™. Their value proposition focused on 'increasing the quality of patient treatment by accurately detecting multiple infections at a time, saving workers' time through full automation and multiplex testing, and receiving results in 30 minutes.' Winning third place, Team FICT Consulting from The University of Porto, Portugal, demonstrated a human-centric approach with their 'Bio-Near' business plan for BIONEER's IRON-qPCR™. Their plan focused on how BIONEER could bring IRON-qPCR to market profitably and innovatively. 

Participating teams also took part in an Introduction Video Contest that was won by India's Dream Team from Woxsen University. The team won based on their creativity, professionalism, and the number of likes generated on social media.

The SolBridge IBPC continues to present an opportunity for participants to test their practical skills on real business cases, work under pressure, and network with students from different countries.