Strategic timing key to commercialization success: study

Two researchers at the Simon Fraser Univ School of Business have published a paper demonstrating that timing of certain strategic actions taken by the inventor plays a major role in whether research is successfully commercialized. Drs Elicia Maine and Jon Thomas argue that tech transfer strategies of Canadian universities are “not conducive to scientific commercialization” and that government policies “have short-term objectives which keeps the pie small”.  Their research includes a case study of BIND Therapeutics, an MIT spinoff that raised US $180 million and reached an initial public offering by delaying the formation of a company until the research was closer to commercial viability and better met investor timelines. The study, published in leading journal Nature Nanotechnology, is part of a broader multi-year project on the global nanobiotechnology industry.