Turning basic research into business According to Martin Bonde, one of the biggest challenges in the years to come is how to commercialise the most promising basic research. In recent years, a great deal of public funding has been allocated to basic research. Yet, by the time the findings are ready to be turned into business, they are subject to the same market conditions as if a venture fund had been funding the research, which makes it very difficult. According to Martin Bonde, publicly funded basic research should have financial advantages when entering the biotech market. “Publicly funding the commercialisation of basic research could be the solution. One way of going about it could be to use just a small fraction of the funding allocated to basic research,” Martin Bonde explains. “This is why Dansk Biotek is developing an idea catalogue for the politicians. The catalogue is meant
as an aid to creating increased growth and better conditions for the Danish biotech industry and ultimately for Denmark as well. We are planning to launch the catalogue in May,” he concludes.
WHAT IS BIOTECH? • Biotech (short for biotechnology) is the development of useful products based on living systems and organisms. • Biotech is usually divided in to three sub groups:
- Pharmaceutical biotech - Agricultural biotech - Environmental biotech • A biotech company is characterised by being a nonestablished, start-up company that does not have all functions in-house.
ADVERT
Basic and translational research – for a sustainable and better world Established in 2011 the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (CFB), DTU has a clear vision for its contribution to a more sustainable world. The DTU Center has set out to become a leader in the transformation of chemical production from a petrochemical industry to a more sustainable bio-based
FACTS ABOUT The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (CFB) • was funded in 2010 via a Novo Nordisk Foundation grant to DTU • received two further grants from the Novo Nordisk Foundation in 2012 - one covering genomescale science for CHO cells aiming at generating optimized CHO cell factories to produce the next generation of biopharmaceuticals – and one facilitating further internationalization of CFB • is a multi-site operation with over 200 people associated • is currently housed in Scion-DTU, and has satellites hosted by the UCSD, Chalmers, Copenhagen University, KTH, UC Berkeley and KAIST For more information http://www.biosustain.dtu.dk/english
30
30
industry, in addition to becoming an international hub and Center of Excellence for interdisciplinary research leading to the design of new and improved microbial and mammalian cell factories. “We identify and construct cell factories to produce chemicals that can be made biologically – thereby reducing global dependence on oil,” says Jens Kindtler, Chief Business Officer, carrying on, “Furthermore, we strive to identify and efficiently produce therapeutic proteins with tailored properties for medical therapy and small molecule anti-bacterial compounds.” The science taking place at CFB reaches out internationally to chemical industries, biotechnological, and pharmaceutical companies. In the mind of Jens Kindtler a dedicated research and development effort is required in order to identify commercially interesting compounds and to speed-up the strain design process in order to further strengthen Denmark’s position within bioprocessing. “This is what CFB is all about. A wide range of significant products, from small molecules to large proteins, that can be made using cells as production hosts or cell factories. These cell factories will impact chemical and biopharmaceutical production notably over the coming decades,” he ends.