Scientists who want to set up their own companies are being offered a pioneering training scheme over the Internet, writes Maggie Hartford.

The six-month Business for Bioscience course, developed by Oxfordshire BioLink and Oxford Brookes University, will be launched at Oxford Venturefest 2000, the innovation festival being held on June 26 and 27.

The course is the idea of Oxfordshire Biolink manager Jonathan Reynolds and has been set up with input from companies, including Unipart, Oxford Innovation, the Oxford Knowledge Company and Oxford College of Further Education.

Mr Reynolds said: "The course will provide the business and management skills that the executives of young bioscience companies need to develop their companies into mature, sustainable and profit-making businesses.

"It will also help to address the recommendations of Lord Sainsbury's cluster report, in nurturing a new generation of scientists skilled in business to keep the UK at the forefront of the European biotechnology industry."

The course, developed with a 250,000 grant from the South East England Development Agency, will focus on key business and management topics, from intellectual property to accounting and marketing. At the end of the course, participants will present a business plan.

Director of studies Roger Mumby-Croft said: "This is one of the most exciting projects that I have ever been involved with. The new technology opens up terrific opportunities for education and offers a platform to deliver interactive learning direct to the desk of the student.

"Our 'Virtual Faculty' features an electronic library, where users can access reference material alongside a powerful internet search facility, with a chat-room facility allowing seminars to be delivered online."

Colin Alexander, director of Business Link Heart of England, will be giving a presentation on the work of Business Links throughout the country.