Research commercialization

University research powers innovation and economic development. Countries with intensive research and development (R&D) programmes differ in their approach to turning lab studies into commercial enterprises. By Alla Katsnelson, infographic by Mohamed Ashour.

Universities aid entrepreneurs by helping them to turn their research into companies. In return, universities can reap financial benefits.

The science done in university laboratories can change the world, but only when discoveries can be transformed into innovations.

A broader understanding of 'impact' could help governments to measure the diverse benefits of their investment in research.

The value that Australia places on publication quality over quantity has elevated it into the top echelon of science. Can it now improve its flagging track record in commercialization?

After starting one of Germany's first biotech companies, biochemist Horst Domdey co-founded BioM, a non-profit organization that has managed and developed Munich's biotechnology cluster since 1997. He talks to Nature about nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit in “a country of competitions”.

When it comes to translating its own research into practical applications, China falls short. A forum in Shanghai put the spotlight on ambitious plans to accelerate the process.

Despite the ubiquity of the Internet, innovation still happens mainly in hubs, where face-to-face contact matters more than ever.

For the past decade, venture philanthropists have been working to propel promising therapies and vaccines into the clinic, with some success.

Austrian social scientist Helga Nowotny was president of the European Research Council between 2010 and 2013. Now a professor emerita of ETH Zurich and author of The Cunning of Uncertainty (Polity, 2015), Nowotny discusses the growing pressure to capitalize on academic research, and how countries can get it right in the absence of a universal recipe.

Housing industry labs in academic settings benefits all parties, say Jana J. Watson-Capps and Thomas R. Cech.

Brian D. Wright and colleagues present data challenging the assumption that corporate-funded academic research is less accessible and useful to others.

The best way for aspiring entrepreneurs to achieve their financing goals is to understand what investors and partners want.

A new model for translational research and drug repositioning has recently been established based on three-way partnerships between public funders, the pharmaceutical industry and academic investigators. This article discusses the progress with two pioneering initiatives — one involving the UK Medical Research Council and one involving the US National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences — and the unique requirements and challenges for this model.

If emerging technologies such as nanotechnology are to reach their full potential we need to radically change our approach to risk, argues Andrew D. Maynard.