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Dr Andrew Goodall’s experience shows that the YES competition is about more than just creating a new generation of entrepreneurs – it can also help early career researchers to understand how their skills might transfer elsewhere within industry.

With his post-doctoral project at the University of Reading nearing an end, Dr Andrew Goodall found himself at a critical juncture in his career. Nearly a decade spent working in academia had afforded him an in-depth knowledge of his field and an array of highly specialist technical skills, but the increasingly competitive and precarious nature of academic research was making it more and more difficult to use his expertise within primary research.

So when Andrew heard about the YES competition, he quickly realised that it represented a unique opportunity to explore a new career path in the world of commerce and industry. A tailored package of support from the Knowledge Transfer Centre (KTC) meant that despite having no previous business experience, Andrew felt fully prepared to participate in YES:

“From the very start, the support from the KTC was brilliant. Before my team and I attended our first workshop, hosted by [UK agritech company] Syngenta, the KTC arranged for us to speak to a previous year’s YES team about their experiences. It meant that I went into it with my eyes fully open and knowing exactly what to expect, which really helped.”

Together with his teammates, Andrew developed a business idea based on a hypothetical dairy substitute called ‘MooFree’, produced using protein from genetically modified bacteria. The staff at the KTC continued to provide Andrew and his team with advice, guidance, and administrative support throughout the competition, including by sourcing information and materials, and by arranging informal mentoring with experts at the Henley Business School.

“Having someone there to sense-check our idea was really valuable – knowing what wasn’t going to work was just as helpful as knowing what would work,” Andrew explains. “It also helped prevent us from getting bogged down in the nitty-gritty details of the science, and instead to think about wider business considerations like costs, timescales, and marketing.”

The way in which YES encourages participants to consider the ‘big picture’ is often a key benefit for scientists like Andrew, whose academic training is typically geared towards developing a keen focus on the technical detail of a highly specialised field. “It encourages you to take a step back and consider how your research fits into a wider context,” he says. “This, in turn, helps you to communicate your ideas more effectively to different audiences.”

Andrew’s team reached the final and, after beating ten other teams, won the competition. Combined with the business skills and knowledge he had gained through YES, this gave Andrew the confidence to successfully apply for a technical support job at Oxford Nanopore. Five years later he is still with the same company and, as an Associate Director, is now managing a team of technical specialists from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Moving into industry has been a big change from working in academia, but the experience I gained through the YES competition has definitely helped me to adapt,” he says. “For me, it has been absolutely the right move – it’s very satisfying helping small businesses to grow and improve, knowing that ultimately I’m supporting them to do the best science possible.”