BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

Science for export

June 25, 2009 7:00 AM UTC

Although every major university or institute would like to be located in a biotech hub and keep its discoveries close to home, only a few true hubs exist. For everyone else, the question is whether their research goes elsewhere to be commercialized. In the long run, the answer is usually yes. Much of the technology that is licensed to existing companies goes elsewhere. And although some institutions may form startups close to home, these often end up leaving once they need venture funding.

The lack of nearby corporate infrastructure also has more subtle effects on translational work at universities not located near major hubs. For example, researchers may not realize the commercial potential of their own work. As a result, many technology licensing officers at these institutions spend time training researchers to recognize the translational potential of their work, as well as ferreting out interesting discoveries within their own institutions, instead of devoting their resources to finding the best way to market those discoveries to VCs or potential partners...