Innovation Mechanism 3: Scientific Collaboration

Want to help your ideas turn into products?  Let them out into the innovation community to find unexpected routes to value.

Broaden the boundaries of collaboration.

Technical and scientific work requires rich information flow between people across social networks.  Holding inventions closely or restricting publication blocks knowledge flow, preventing social networks from growing in both breadth and depth.

Recommendations: Don’t over-value your ideas

Educate academic collaborators on the realities of the market

Be honest about the high failure rate of promising ideas and the high costs of bringing drugs to market.  Help researchers understand that pots of gold are only found at the end of the rainbow.

Stop fearing someone will steal your ideas

Many entrepreneurs believe that others are waiting to pounce on every new idea, so they hide in stealth mode.  What they lose is the opportunity to learn how their ideas might be used.

Assemble a creative legal team early

Find attorneys who are interested in new business models rather than telling you how “it has to be done.”

Explore the use of Materials Transfer Agreements that enable researchers to use your compounds in return for data and appropriate commercial rights.

Lose “not invented here”

You’re not as smart as you think.

Click here for a free download of the Kummer Consulting case study, Mechanisms of Innovation.

For a free consultation on how to improve your organization’s effectiveness contact Merle at mkummer@kummerconsulting.com