Collaborations
Overview
Ground-breaking discoveries stem from collaboration, where people work together towards a shared goal...
Global Business Plan Template
Bridging the communication gap between business and science
Synthetic Biology Symposium
Developing Science Communication Skills
iGEM Directory
A Contribution to the growing iGEM community
Wiki Guide
A compilation of iGEM Wiki Knowledge with US AFRL Carroll HS
Overview
Ground-breaking discoveries stem from collaboration, where people work together towards a shared goal. With an aim of addressing the communication gaps between research and industry, our core collaborative efforts were focused on the creation of a Global Business Plan Template, organising an Australian Symposium about Synthetic Biology, launching an iGEM Directory, and composing a Wiki Guide.
These endeavours could facilitate the flow of information both internally – among iGEM teams – and externally with these teams talking directly to members outside the scientific community. This was a step forward in helping break down barriers that might hinder scientists from commercialising their scientific discoveries. As such, we hoped that our collaborative efforts by creating the necessary platforms to connect businesses with scientific communities (and vice versa) would encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.
Global Business Plan Template
Bridging the communication gap between business and science
This template was created to bridge the communication gap between science and business. We collaborated with iGEM teams from the University of British Columbia, Aalto-Helsinki, and Ku Leuven to craft a business plan template that could be utilised by anyone, especially those without any background in business. Specifically, this was designed as an instrument for scientists to allow them to realise their idea into a commercial product.
Online Video Chat with Aalto-Helsinki, UBC, Ku Leuven, and NCKU to discuss what makes a global business plan
Our template has been incorporated by the following teams allowing them to commercialise their ideas. Click on a team's logo to view their business plan:
Synthetic Biology Symposium
Developing Science Communication skills
The final hurdle at the iGEM Competition is the Giant Jamboree, an event where teams give a 20-minute presentation of their projects as well as do a poster defence. To prepare for the biggest affair of the competition, we organised a symposium in which the Australian iGEM teams were challenged to summarise their projects in 5 minutes while keeping the audience engaged. We invited Macquarie, USYD, and Melbourne. Macquarie and USYD gave us fantastic presentations, while Melbourne provided us with an awesome video, that exhibited their journey with iGEM this year.
The Unviersity of Sydney, Macquarie and UNSW at Synthetic Biology Symposium
iGEM Directory
A Contribution to the growing iGEM community
A challenge that we found was contacting other teams. As a result, we decided to come up with an online Excel document for teams to enter their contact details. This file was accessible for all teams to use allowing them to contribute to the growing network of collaborations within iGEM. A total of 229 teams from 48 countries provided their contact details, including an email address, social media accounts, and their wiki. We hope that this would allow for increased communication between all iGEM teams both present and future.
Wiki Guide
A compilation of iGEM Wiki Knowledge with US AFRL Carroll HS
The wiki showcases each teams' journey throughout the iGEM competition, including their achievements, failures, and the lessons that were learnt. It is a tool that judges use to evaluate a team's performance in the competition. Hence, it is essential that teams use the wiki effectively.
We collaborated with US AFRL Carroll HS to collate wiki knowledge from past and present teams. The finished product is a "Wiki Guide", which is a written guide and video series. The aim of the guide is to provide a starting point for those who do not have HTML, CSS, or Javascript experience.
We suggested that teams should plan their "branding", or the overall style they are going for, before starting any css work. When designing the wiki, teams should decide on a colour palette, font style, and logo to keep each of their wiki's pages consistent. We also suggested to use an external text editor and when writing HTML/CSS codes for the wiki because iGEM text editor does not allow teams to use indentations, which can compromise the readability of their code. Upon our request, US AFRL Carroll HS also posted a video that walked us through how to upload fonts from Google to be used on our own wiki.
Check out the wiki guide here: