Lessons in Translating University Research to the Marketplace

Chapter 10

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Lessons in Translating University Research to the Marketplace Joseph M. DeSimone* Department of Chemistry and Institute for Nanomedicine, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3290, United States *E-mail: [email protected].

From licensing patents to existing companies, to creating entirely new companies, multiple routes exist to enable the translation of academic research to the market. This article will explore lessons learned from experiences with different approaches, also examining keys to entrepreneurial success involving financing, partnerships, the importance of diversity in driving team innovation, and advantages of operating in a convergence framework for shaping success in a global marketplace.

Introduction Academics are in a privileged position to conduct research on topics of their choosing with students. There are lots of opportunities for innovation in their research. Academics are sometimes able to start companies based on their research and innovations. Henry Rosovsky (1) describes research experience in this way: “Research is an expression of faith in the possibility of progress. The drive that leads scholars to study a topic has to include the belief that new things can be discovered, that newer can be better, and that a greater depth of understanding is achievable. Research, especially academic research, is a form of optimism about the human condition.”

© 2016 American Chemical Society Cheng et al.; Chemistry without Borders: Careers, Research, and Entrepreneurship ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


Clay Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma When considering innovations and the economy, Clay Christensen (2) lays out three types of innovations: disruptive, sustaining, and efficiency. Disruptive innovations transform complex and expensive things to make them affordable and accessible. Disruptive innovations often require the innovator to take a long view and emanate from different perspectives, sometimes in academia. If successful, they can create millions of new jobs with a 5-10 year return. Sustaining innovations replace old products with newer models. The newer models are better products, but do not create new jobs necessarily. Sustaining innovations, as their name implies, are essential for sustaining industries, but not necessarily grow them with regard to jobs. Efficiency innovations are focused on streamlining and cost-cutting, often through automation and improved manpower utilization or productivity. Efficiency innovations provide a good return on investment in 12-18 months. However, they often lead to a reduction in jobs. It is important to consider all of these innovations with respect to the economy. It seems that this type of innovations may be most important for significant economic growth for the long term.

Convergence as a Strategy To Drive Innovation One great way to spark innovation is to work at the convergence of different fields (3). Bringing together different fields of study through collaboration integrates different approaches that may be originally viewed as distinct -- not just among life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering, but among (and with) the social sciences, humanities, and performing arts as well. The National Academies, in particular, has been working with this idea of convergence as a means to drive innovation. Convergence can be considered a major blueprint for innovation. Steve Jobs is an iconic figure who advocates the convergence of technology and liberal arts, using it to drive Apple’s innovation. Examples of the people Apple has hired include the former CTO at Adobe, a fitness expert from Nike FuelBand, a scientist working on non-pharm methods of improving the quality of sleep, a former CEO of Yves Saint Laurent, a former CEO of Burberry, a designer from Nike’s “Innovation Kitchen” FlyKnit & FuelBand, a director of engineering at C8 MediSensor, a VP of hardware engineering, a former CMOs, and experts in biosensors. Closely related to this idea of convergence is the dictum: “We learn the most from those we have the least in common with (3).” The “most innovative solutions often arise from diverse teams composed of talented individuals with different areas of expertise, backgrounds, and life experiences (3).” People who grew up with a lot of money think about solving problems differently than those who grew up with very little money, and it is important to have all those perspectives together. “Without being intentional about human diversity, we risk detracting from the opportunity that exists to achieve innovation and societal impact [. . .]”. 88 Cheng et al.; Chemistry without Borders: Careers, Research, and Entrepreneurship ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


A book driving a lot of people’s thinking today is Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or how to build the Future by Peter Thiel (4). The underlying premise of the book is “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” This is an important comment regarding breakthrough ideas. It considers what a 0 to 1 idea is versus a 1 to n ideas. That is to a say, a seminal idea as opposed to an incremental one. If you are in academia and you are writing grants and proposals, and you have an idea that very few people agree with you on, it is a very difficult process to implement and study that idea, because of the peer review process. When thinking about the types of things that lead to a big innovation, or the 0 to 1 idea, the peer review process might be criticized in this regard. In the private sector, however, you have access to venture capital which can easily fund the 0 to 1 idea. The whole premise of this is to convince people of a plan to build a different future, as opposed to sustaining one’s disciplinary focus. In other words, we need to think about doing things differently. In the chemical community, there is a lot to be learned from other disciplines, industries, and startup companies. In his article, Bill Gurley (5) outlines the advantages of convergence. These include sustainable competitive advantages, the presence of “network effects” (the idea that a community can learn from itself and get stronger the bigger it gets, e.g., Google), having predictable and visible revenue, sticky products where customers are locked in, gross margin levels, profitability, a highly fragmented customer base, the lack of a major partner dependency, and organic demand for products versus heavy marketing expenditures, and, lastly, growth. This is what the big venture capital firms are focused on, and they are interested in chemists who can implement or achieve these goals in the chemical industry. Some key observations about successful innovators are: 1) often the best design teams are the most diverse in team membership, 2) mentorships and apprenticeships are essential, 3) the strategy is all about being different, 4) the most fertile ground for innovation lies between fields, and 5) partnerships with domain experts are critical. This author has personally worked in and started a number of companies at the crossroads of various disciplines and has created innovative products with applications across different industries. Some of these include a nanotech/bio company called Liquidia Technologies; and a new battery company developing non-flammable lithium ion batteries called Blue Current. He co-founded the company Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions (BVS), and Abbott currently owns and makets the technology BVS was founded on. He has also worked on a new approach to 3D printing with Carbon3D.

Benefits of Academic Entrepreneurship The intersection between academia and entrepreneurship is an important one. It provides an opportunity to improve the health and well-being of the society. There is an economic development aspect that is also important. For an academic scientist, entrepreneurship provides a number of different benefits. It provides a compass to help navigate where the important problems 89 Cheng et al.; Chemistry without Borders: Careers, Research, and Entrepreneurship ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.


are. The peer review process in entrepreneurship is also more intensive. When someone is betting real dollars on your idea, the level of peer review is substantial. Venture firms bring together some of the best in the industry to peer review innovations. This intense peer-review, in turn, really improves the science and research being conducted. The additional resources that an academic entrepreneur has access to make an impact. It also improves the academic’s “grantsmanship” and his ability to succinctly talk about his work. Academic entrepreneurs are forced to be effective in their communication in order to discuss the benefits of their work. There is a huge opportunity for scaling up development. Venture capital firms are typically able to invest much greater amounts of capital into a product or idea than academia is able to. Along these same lines, academic entrepreneurship creates companies that are effective in translational research. Academic entrepreneurship also validates science by amplifying the rate at which things are reproducible by others. Academic entrepreneurship also creates an apprenticeship environment, which can help create the next generation of entrepreneurs.

References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Rosovsky, H. The University: An Owner’s Manual; W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 1991; p 89. Christensen, C. M. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail; Harvard University Press: Boston, MA, 1997. DeSimone, J. M.; Farrell, C. L. Driving Convergence with Human Diversity. Sci. Transl. Med. 2014, 6, 238ed11 DOI:10.1126/scitranslmed.3004486. Thiel, P.; Masters, B. Zero to One: Notes on Startups or How to Build the Future; Crown Business: New York, 2014. Gurley, B. All Revenue is Not Created Equal: The Keys to 10x Revenue Club; http://abovethecrowd.com, May 24, 2011 (accessed August 1, 2015).

90 Cheng et al.; Chemistry without Borders: Careers, Research, and Entrepreneurship ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2016.

Lessons in Translating University Research to the Marketplace

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