Exploring the ‘ifs’ and ‘hows’ of turning science into business
A recent study supported by the EU-funded ATTRACT2 project looks into if and how open innovation activities and scientists’ entrepreneurial intentions foster the transformation of research outcomes into marketable products. Published in the ‘CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation’, the study analyses five case studies of European research consortia funded under ATTRACT2 to propose potential theoretical mechanisms that limit or encourage market commercialisation activities. “To generate the case studies, we conducted semi-structured interviews with project leaders and team members of each of the five projects. We then deductively coded the sections pertaining to entrepreneurial intentions, open innovation, and activities towards the market commercialization of the research results,” explains Prof. Dr Gernot Pruschak of Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland, in a news item posted on the ATTRACT2 website. “Through the interdisciplinarity of our research team, which included scholars from engineering, management, and policy research, we effectively integrated diverse viewpoints in the analysis process.”
When scientists lack entrepreneurial intentions
Open innovation activities describe collaborations and exchange of knowledge and resources that are not confined within a single organisation, but also make use of a variety of external sources to drive innovation. So what are the dynamics between such activities and entrepreneurial intentions, in other words, a scientist’s motivation to become an entrepreneur? The study’s results show that inbound open innovation activities, which entail sourcing and acquiring expertise from outside the organisation, can compensate for a lack of entrepreneurial intentions among academically trained scientists. The lack of entrepreneurial intentions is also addressed through coupled open innovation activities. These involve collaborating with peers and business-focused projects to combine internal and external ideas and technologies. Inbound and coupled open innovation activities can therefore increase the likelihood that academic research will be transformed into a marketable product.
Challenges on both sides
However, finding a partner to carry out those inbound and coupled open innovation activities is no easy task, according to the study. In the early, pre-prototyping stages of their innovations, academic entrepreneurs have to convince potential partners of the merit of their idea in order to obtain funds for prototype development. On the other hand, potential investors often require prototypes before committing to the investment. They find themselves having to provide funding for a new, unseen product that they will only see sometime in the future and whose performance is as yet uncertain. The study also highlights the strong motivations of many academics, who prefer to make their innovation outcomes openly and freely accessible to everyone. This focus on accessibility rather than financial gain affects their engagement in open innovation and has an impact on their entrepreneurial intentions. Prof. Dr Pruschak concludes: “Our research results point out the necessity of enhancing and introducing further research and innovation funding schemes that provide full financial security for researchers and innovators up to and including the development of a prototype. Success rates in these grants should be independent of the status of industry partnerships given that profound industry partnerships only emerge once researchers and innovators can present their prototypes.” The ATTRACT2 (Breakthrough Innovation Programme for a Pan-European Detection and Imaging Eco-System – Phase-2) project ends in 2025. For more information, please see: ATTRACT2 project website
Keywords
ATTRACT2, innovation, open innovation, research, researcher, innovator, coupled innovation, entrepreneur, commercialisation
