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Open innovation networks between academia and industry: an imperative for breakthrough therapies

Nature Medicine volume 15, pages 502–507 (2009)Cite this article

The demand to bring transformative therapeutics to patients and the escalating costs of doing so are driving the life science industry to seek collaborations with academia to stimulate innovation. Despite the opportunities afforded by working together, companies and universities lack a systematic approach for capturing the full potential of such relationships. Detailed here are a few suggested strategies to help these collaborations succeed.

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Figure 1: The current model for producing biopharmaceutical innovation is economically unsustainable.
Figure 2: How to manage industry-academic partnerships as one would an investment portfolio.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank E. Lium and T. Shen for contributing to the article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Teri Melese is in the Department of Medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Teri Melese

  2. Salima M. Lin and Julia L. Chang are at IBM Global Business Services, Armonk, New York, USA.,

    Salima M Lin & Julia L Chang

  3. Neal H. Cohen is in the Departments of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and Medicine, University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Neal H Cohen

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  1. Teri Melese
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  2. Salima M Lin
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Correspondence to Teri Melese.

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Melese, T., Lin, S., Chang, J. et al. Open innovation networks between academia and industry: an imperative for breakthrough therapies. Nat Med 15, 502–507 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0509-502

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