Scientists, administrators and industry specialists often mention the resistance to commercialization among academic scientists in the 1970s and 80s. Most people agree that this resistance has dwindled almost to the vanishing point now, but earlier, in even into the 1990s, it was still very much present. For Diane Fabel of the Stony Brook Center for Biotechnology, the key strategies in overcoming this resistance were finding points of mutual interest, building relationships, and helping each side understand what motivated the other and what the other side’s goals were. In her experience,
“Most faculty still don’t understand the corporate culture, and what is motivating industry. I think industry is doing a better job of understanding the academic culture than the academic culture is of understanding the corporate culture. What’s motivating people, what drives them, what’s important to the faculty member, why would they do this? Versus on the corporate side where it’s very focused on getting a technology. Doesn’t have to be perfect, doesn’t have to be the final version, but getting that technology as rapidly as possible into clinical development. It’s either they want it to fail fast, or proceed. They’re just different driving goals.”