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From 2012e.igem.org

Methodology

Even though success stories are rare and few, the facilitation of an idea to market relies on three components that can greatly increase the speed and likelihood of success. This three-component approach relies on:

• Industrial resources
• Public resources
• University resources.

The industry can contribute funding and expertise and knowledge in the area. The public can contribute cash to make it more attractive to venture capitalists. As a result, venture capitalists do not have to bear all of the risk. The university can contribute research facilities and highly skilled personnel. These relationships create a network and foundation for success. Public and university ties can counteract common causes of failures through mentoring and partnering opportunities. Improving academic and industrial partnerships can speed up the translation from academia to industry. Licensing is a potential partnership to reduce the amount of intensive research needed by the industry and the financial burden on the researchers. The figure below demonstrates how this intertwined relationship contribute to the conception of the idea and eventually, capturing a share of the market^{[http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/Publications/reports/Pages/syntheticbiologyroadmap.aspx]}.

Future Business Models

Collaborative business models are an emerging model for sharing knowledge and reducing research costs. Collaborative business models shift revenue from licenses to contributing resources for knowledge. For example, several firms may pool resources to fund research and provide their results to other members at a low or no cost. The group can license the intellectual property for a fee to non-members of the group. Another possibility is patent pooling where firms conduct research separately, but the patent rights are available to the group as a whole. In one instance, a non-profit organization, Cambria, uses a patent pool that provides patents for free to its members. It manages research tools for agricultural biotechnology such as a gene transfer technique. The knowledge is available at no cost, but firms that use the research tools must make their improvements and results freely available. Collaborative models potentially provide greater network involvement and a reduction in costs in acquiring new knowledge such as licensing.

The integrator business model is to create functions or markets that have difficulty developing. For example, a biofuel company may fail due to the biomass being unsuited for industrial processing. An integrator, which could be a private firm or non-profit organization, would encourage other agricultural firms to develop crops that meet the standards for biofuel processing. Another example of the use of an integrator in the pharmaceutical industry would be linking pharmacogenetic knowledge, information on patient outcomes, information on the effectiveness of different therapies, and the coordination of health goods and services. In one instance, the elderly would benefit from sophisticated IT-based monitoring systems in identifying side effects of multiple medications and calculate dosages for specific conditions. This would create a potential market for predictive and preventative medicine. The firm would earn revenue from a diverse range of drugs and therapies instead of a single blockbuster product. Traditional business models, especially in the health care industry, rely on a single product earning blockbuster profits.

Both models exist in some form, but could become more dominant in the near future. Collaborative business models are applicable in all settings and rely on an open source business model, the sharing of knowledge and coordination to reduce costs. Integrator business models are excellent for a single industry or the collaborative between two industries, depending on how applicable the technology is. Integrator business models can rapidly develop a market since it combines both research and commercialization phases. The figure below shows the difference between the traditional and new business models. A community focused corporation utilizes the best of both business models.