The process of technology transfer in the Life Sciences aims to advance early scientific inventions and discoveries to the next generation of diagnostics, therapies, services, and enterprises. Because of its intrinsic attitude to risk, hypothesis-driven research, and data sharing, academia produces a large amount of highly valuable discoveries and inventions that, regrettably, do not always translate into therapies and products beneficial for society. Indeed, the journey from academic research to patients requires competencies, know-how, and access to considerable scientific, human, and economic resources. Academia spin-offs and start-ups often lack the resources and know-how to tackle these challenges. On the other hand, the industry has been thriving in delivering breakthrough therapies and diagnostic tools to patients while not being as effective as academia in producing breakthrough scientific discoveries. Collaboration between academia and industry is essential to unlock the full potential of both worlds, and Europe hosts several examples of such collaborations.
With this in mind, we would like to gather some of the key players in the Italian Life Science ecosystem to discuss such European examples and join efforts to build a model for Italy.