Tech Transferability
When scaling from research to manufacturing, or passing down academic research from one group to another, enormous amounts of insights and findings must be shared without any data leakage– since even the smallest oversight could lead to a detrimental loss of science.
As teams expand their operations or outsource certain processes, creating consistent and reproducible results heavily relies on the enterprise's ability to facilitate seamless collaboration and knowledge-sharing within teams and with industry partners.
Tech transferability is defined as a system’s ability to communicate with another, i.e., transferring the right information to the right people at the right time.
And so, tech transferability becomes the glue that holds all the pieces together, unlocking the economic, scientific, and societal potential of your enterprise.
The Benefits of Tech Transferability
Commercialization and Industry Partnerships: Many innovations and discoveries made in academic or research laboratories have the potential for commercialization in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry. Tech transferability ensures that valuable cell culture technologies, methods, or intellectual property can be smoothly transitioned to industry partners for development, production, and commercialization.
Economic Impact: Successful technology transfer can have a substantial economic impact. It can lead to the creation of startups, job opportunities, and economic growth in the regions where the laboratories are located. This can be especially important for universities and research institutions seeking to maximize the societal benefits of their research.
Accelerated Innovation: Technology transfer expedites the translation of research discoveries into practical applications. laboratories can benefit from the expertise, resources, and infrastructure of industry partners to further develop and scale up cell culture technologies, potentially accelerating the pace of innovation and bringing new therapies or products to market sooner.
Funding and Partnerships: Tech transferability can attract funding and partnerships. Research funding agencies, venture capitalists, and industry collaborators are more likely to invest in laboratories with a track record of successfully transferring technologies. This additional funding can support ongoing research and development efforts.
Secure Knowledge Dissemination: Effective technology transfer involves documenting and sharing knowledge about cell culture methods and best practices. This dissemination of knowledge can benefit the broader scientific community, enabling other laboratories to adopt and build upon the developed technologies. Laboratories also have more control over who has access to certain information through digital access control and authorization protocols.
Regulatory Compliance: Transitioning cell culture technologies to industry often involves navigating complex regulatory pathways. laboratories that prioritize tech transferability can work closely with industry partners to ensure that their processes and products meet regulatory requirements, speeding up the regulatory approval process.
Resource Optimization: Technology transfer can lead to more efficient resource utilization. laboratories may no longer need to maintain large-scale production facilities or manufacturing capabilities, as industry partners can take on these responsibilities, allowing the lab to focus on core research activities.
Scale-Up and Production: Tech transferability ensures that cell culture methods can be scaled up or scaled out from small laboratory-scale processes to industrial-scale production. This is essential for producing large quantities of cells or biologics for clinical trials or commercial use.
Market Access: Collaborating with industry partners through technology transfer can provide laboratories with access to established distribution channels, allowing their products or therapies to reach a broader market more quickly and efficiently.
Monetization: Laboratories that successfully transfer cell culture technologies may benefit from licensing agreements, royalties, or other financial incentives, generating additional revenue to support ongoing research and innovation.
Tips to Improve Tech Transferability
Some suggested ways to enable cross-system communication include:
- Go digital – When it comes time to share information for audits, collaboration, or quality control, many labs struggle with traditional spreadsheets or pen and paper notebooks. Labs that digitize their data and processes in a system built with transferability in mind allow for easier dissemination of information with less room for human error.
- Implement real-time data updates – Although it requires technical expertise, configuring your systems to communicate via an Application Programming Interface (API) allows for instant data sharing and updates. This also eliminates the risk of using out-of-date or inaccurate information.
- Start with scale in mind – Simple spreadsheets can rapidly grow in size and complexity. For organizations that want to scale from research to GLP to GMP, consider software solutions that don’t just meet your current demands, but your future needs as well
