Optimizing biomedical discoveries as an engine of culture change in an academic medical center

Abstract

Academic discovery in biomedicine is a growing enterprise with tens of billions of dollars in research funding available to universities and hospitals. Protecting and optimizing the resultant intellectual property is required in order for the discoveries to have an impact on society. To achieve that, institutions must create a multidisciplinary, collaborative system of review and support, and utilize connections to industry partners. In this study, we outline the efforts of Case Western Reserve University, coordinated through its Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC), to promote entrepreneurial culture, and achieve goals of product development and startup formation for biomedical and population health discoveries arising from the academic ecosystem in Cleveland. The CTSC Office of Translation and Innovation, with the university's Technology Transfer Office (TTO), helps identify and derisk promising IP while building interdisciplinary project teams to optimize the assets through key preclinical derisking steps. The benefits of coordinating funding across multiple programs, assuring dedicated project management to oversee optimizing the IP, and ensuring training to help improve proposals and encourage an entrepreneurial culture, are discussed in the context of a case study of therapeutic assets, the Council to Advance Human Health. This case study highlights best practices in academic innovation.

Keywords: Innovation; academic ecosystem; biomedical technologies; entrepreneurship; training; translational research programs; workforce development.

Fig. 1.

The Cleveland CTSC system. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) supports Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) at more than 50 institutions across North America. The Cleveland Clinical & Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC) consists of Case Western Reserve University along with four regional hospital systems. Within the Cleveland CTSC, the Office of Translation and Innovation helps support the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation in northeast Ohio.

Fig. 2.

Translational research ecosystem in Cleveland. The figure shows the five major stages of innovation and product development from discovery through technology optimization, startup, clinical approvals through societal impact in the context of growing and developing new companies (green). Gray boxes indicate major inputs represented as translational research programs and entrepreneurial services, including the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC). Outputs to Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) occur as new grants during the optimization process and new funds back to CWRU in terms of license fees and milestone payments as startups form and progress. A gray box also denotes major outputs, represented as the drugs, devices, and medical and health interventions that impact patients. Red lettering indicates new programs (2020), including two i-Corps programs – innovation programs using experiential education in entrepreneurship.