Accelerating commercialization through collaboration
In the 1990s, evolutionary biologist William Muir conducted experiments with farm chickens and found that competition in the barnyard can have a dramatic negative impact on the yield of a standard farm. He further found that breeding designed to produce less competitive hens eventually allowed the chickens to become healthier and produce more eggs.
“This was in large part because the more passive chickens were no longer aggressively competing with each other for food or other resources,” explained Jessica Sublett, J.D., LLM, president and CEO of Bounce Innovation Hub.
Sublett shared this story while discussing accelerating commercialization through collaboration on VITALS on Jan. 11. VITALS is NEOMED’s health leadership program in collaboration with University Hospitals.
So how are entrepreneurs like Muir’s “super chickens”?
“The chickens, like us, have a common goal. For the chickens, it's to lay more eggs. For us, it's to accelerate health care innovations through the commercialization process. When we're working together, we all win because we're not so directly competing for resources now,” Sublett said.
She added, “An ecosystem will struggle without a culture of collaboration, cooperation and trust that inspires people to move quickly, help each other and be open to novel ideas. “
A successful collaborative ecosystem for innovation will include three main components, she noted. Those are:
- Define “winning” as a group.
- Know what you are and what you are not. Each member of a collaboration should know their strengths and weaknesses.
- Move from collaboration to coordination. Align strategies, budgets and personnel to accomplish shared goals.
“It's nearly impossible to go at this work alone. That's why it's critical to build relationships and collaborations,” Sublett said.
Sublett spoke for about 17 minutes – the average duration of a physician-patient visit – before introducing Monica Robins, WKYC senior health correspondent, who moderated a Q&A discussion.
Watch VITALS with Jessica Sublett
UP NEXT ON VITALS
Nina F. Schor, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director for intramural research for the National Institutes of Health, joins VITALS at noon Thursday, Feb. 1, via Zoom. Reserve your spot.