The Journal of Commercial Biotechnology strives to provide its readers with the latest research and trends in bioscience commercialisation. In response to the need for more information about global bioentrepreneurship educational programmes, and with the foresight and enthusiastic support of the Managing Editor and publisher, the JCB serves as a ‘home’ for those interested in publishing their research and sharing their experiences and best practices with other bioentrepreneurship education colleagues and collaborators. As a result, the From the Classroom section in the journal is one of the few places where educators and researchers can publish their findings in this emerging field.

In this vein, the eight papers in this special issue on Bioentrepreneurship Education discuss the global efforts of students, faculty, administrators and their partners in offering training and education to those interested in creating and leading bioscience companies. The papers include descriptions of programmes at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral level from major universities throughout the world.

The papers mirror several themes. First, bioentrepreneurship education programmes are still in their infancy and educators and administrators are struggling to define the right value proposition, are trying to get a better understanding of their customers and the market, and are trying to structure the programmes to satisfy the needs and wants of multiple stakeholders, some of whom might have conflicting agendas. Second, what works in one location might not work in another. While there are some commonalities, the success or failure of the programmes seems to depend on local factors, assets and politics as much as universally accepted success factors. Local cultural barriers must be overcome. Third, it is difficult to measure success. Programme managers are grappling with defining appropriate outcome metrics and performing long-term outcome studies to quantify the value of their offerings and the return on their investments. Finally, by its very nature, bioentrepreneurship education is international and interdisciplinary, requiring cooperation between various university entities and faculty in the disciplines of science, engineering, business and the law. Turf battles are inevitable. The traditional vertical structure of university departments, political forces that discourage intra and inter-campus cooperation and mal-alignment of incentives with strategic goals create significant barriers to implementation. It is to the credit of the authors that they have experimented, bootstrapped and outflanked entrenched bureaucracies to create, sustain, fund and manage their programmes.

I am deeply indebted to the editors, authors and the publishers for contributing to this volume with the hope that, by sharing experiences in building global bioentrepreneurship education programmes, those who are struggling with these issues can experiment with ideas and pick and choose what might work for them.