To market or not to market, that's the question.
The commercialization process is not linear; rather, the analogy of a classic pinball machine seems appropriate – the ball or concept taking off in one direction until it hits a road block, then bounces off a rubber bumper or regulation into another path. After attending a discussion with graduate students, the uncertainty to commercialize a concept was obvious.
Why the hesitation?
There are a couple of suggestions. The perception is that commercialization – the marriage of industry and the academic community, is similar to mixing oil and water – they don’t mix. Dr. Calvin Stiller, an academic scholar and serial business entrepreneur, had an interesting quote on the topic from an interview with Steve Paikin on The Agenda:
“Academe and business are really oil and water. One is a scholarly pursuit of truth; the other is the pragmatic support for profit. They really can’t work together, but they can work together. Scientist and academics feel that business can poison the atmosphere where they work…it’s an issue of handing off….discovery is not the end of the road.”
Both communities have different goals but compromises need to be made in order to foster commercialization. A decision to move in either direction does not need to exclude the other; rather a harmony needs to be encouraged between the two camps.
The second possible area of hesitation could be the challenges that are faced by the business community. The long process of discovery; opportunity recognition; testing and market feasibility; intellectual property strategies; prototyping, testing the market; launching strategy; developing a business plan; launching the business is a convoluted endeavor. Each of these steps which build upon each other has a financial burden attached. Time, schedule, cost and scope are all areas that need to be controlled in some format.
Dr. Leonardo Millon from LifeLike Bio Tissue Inc. gave a refreshing perspective on the commercialization process with his synthesis anatomic models made of polyvinyl alchol (PVA). Dr. Millon hopes to improve medical teaching by providing a realistic surgical experience for students. Developing and commercializing artificial skin will advance the training of physicians and improve healthcare delivered to the community. Dr. Millon continues to bridge the divide between the two communities. Having completed his PhD he decided to pursue commercialization with the assistance from Western and the tech transfer wing – WORLDiscoveries.
Leaving the academic community and the ebb and flows of scholarly pursuit is a significance hurdle and stumbling block to many. It is a paralyzing experience to leave a culture of order and protocol to the uncertainty of markets and sales nuances. Nevertheless Dr. Stiller and Dr. Millon have both succeeded with their own ventures and will be able to provide an excellent incentive to budding entrepreneurs with an academic background.
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