Project title: eLSi – elearning for Life Sciences internationalization
WEB
Project website: www.elsi-project.eu
e-Learning platform containing eLSi courses: eFront
Dedicated platform for VETs and end users who want to download the materials available: Moodle
Download User Guide to Registration
Download country reports: Australia – Brazil – China – India – Japan – Middle East – South Korea – United States of America
Project Partners
THE PROJECT.
eLSi was a European innovation transfer project dedicated to internationalization implemented under the European Leonardo program by the bioPmed Cluster together with partners BioM (DE, lead partner), Stockholm Science City Foundation (SE), One Nucleus (UK), RLN East (UK) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE).
Through the creation of free e-Learning training tools, the eLSi project aimed to help increase the competitiveness of European life sciences SMEs by focusing on the eight most attractive non-European markets for the life sciences industry: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, the Middle East, South Korea, and the United States of America
Each course was structured in five points:
- The current status of the life science industry
- Life Science business culture and negotiation processù
- Business etiquette – Do’s & Dont’s
- Starting your business
- Language – basics & tips
and was accomplished by providing the student with various types of materials (videos, documents, reports, weblinks). In particular, the videos represent the real added value of the eLSi courses: in fact, exclusive interviews were conducted with 8 sector experts, one from each region, identified and selected by the project partners.
WHO THE COURSES ARE FOR
The e-Learning courses created, which are available in English, are mainly aimed at people in the company who are involved in theinternationalization process.
In addition to gaining an overview of various markets, at the end of the course the user will learn the ability to “read” various business situations related to different cultural contexts, such as different negotiation methods or how to behave during meetings and gatherings, thereby strengthening their ability to facing international markets and increasing their chances of success.
In addition, the eLSi project also targets the world of professional education (so-called VETs) working in the field of Life Sciences, offering them the opportunity to integrate the valuable materials developed by the eLSi project within their training programs.
WHY THE ELSI PROJECT
Defined as one of Europe’s key sectors, the Life Sciences industry is now a global business, characterized by numerous collaborations between different partners, potential markets around the world, and strong international competition.
Therefore, SMEs in this sector must act internationally from their inception, otherwise they risk failure if they are unable to compete in the global market. In fact, experts say that only 10 percent of biotechnology startups are successful in the long run and that many SMEs are missing out on several market opportunities due to a lack of business culture.
For this very reason, there is a growing demand at the European level for managers with key competencies such as cross-cultural skills needed to export their company’s expertise, collaborate with key global players and sell their technologies in international markets.
The eLSi project focuses precisely on such cultural gaps that hold back the internationalization process of SMEs, particularly to non-European countries.
