Innovation in biotechnology: moving from academic research to product development--the case of biosensors

The fast pace of technological change in the biotechnology industry and the market demands require continuous innovation, which, owing to the science base of the sector, derives from academic research through a transformation process that converts science-oriented knowledge to marketable products. There appear to be some inherent difficulties in transforming directly the knowledge output of academic research to industrial use. The purpose of this article is to examine certain transition mechanisms from monodisciplinary academic isolation (curiosity-driven and internal-worth innovation) to university-industry alliances (market-driven and public-worth innovation) through inter-organizational multidisciplinary collaboration and contextualize the analysis with the case of biosensors. While the majority of literature on the subject studies the channels of knowledge transfer as determinants of alliance success (transferor/transferee interactions), either from the university side (science base) or the industry side (market base), this article focuses on the transferable (technology base) and how it can be strategically modeled and managed by the industry to promote innovation. Based on the valuable lessons learnt from the biosensor paradigm, the authors argue that strategic industry choices deal primarily with the best stage/point to intersect and seize the university output, implanting the required element of marketability that will transform an idea to a viable application. The authors present a methodological approach for accelerating the knowledge transfer from the university to industry aiming at the effective transition of science to products through a business model reconfiguration.