LONDON ¿ Becoming the CEO of a non-existent company may not sound like a great career move, but Springboard Venture Managers plc is offering the successful applicant a salary of #100,000 (US$162,000). He or she will then be charged with setting up a biotechnology company based on technology owned by the U.K. government¿s Medical Research Council (MRC).

¿We want to recruit a chief executive with the vision of where the interesting opportunities are in biotechnology at the moment,¿ Stephen Ross, CEO of Springboard, told BioWorld International. ¿We will pay a salary and provide support while they identify an opportunity, prepare a business plan and raise venture capital backing.¿

Ross said the aim was to reverse the usual model of starting with a piece of technology and then building a business around it. ¿U.K. science may be at the cutting edge of the bioscience revolution, but lack of skilled management often results in problems commercializing the new technology.¿ On the other hand, it is difficult to lure experienced managers out of secure jobs to set up companies.

Springboard, based in Manchester, specializes in recruiting and supporting CEO¿s to start up or acquire businesses in all sectors. It was set up by former directors of the venture capitalist 3i plc, and floated on the stock market in July 1998. To date, it has launched one company in the field of waste disposal.

Springboard is working in association with MVM, the venture capital arm of the MRC, to set up the biotechnology company. While not limited to investing in MRC technology, MVM has right of first refusal over all intellectual property generated by the MRC¿s #340 million per annum in research funding. ¿Frankly, it is an experiment for them [MVM] and for us in this area,¿ said Ross. ¿The aim is to find a CEO who knows what the market wants, but does not necessarily know what technology is around. We will fund them to find out if suitable technology exists, and then raise the venture capital.¿ n