GPS, mRNA vaccines, lithium batteries, the Internet... There are countless of these sciences and technologies that can have a huge impact on human society, and breakthrough scientific discoveries may be born every day.
Even so, most innovative technologies fail to address the most pressing social issues such as energy, cybersecurity, climate change, and even a large proportion remain in the lab without "coming out."
Therefore, it is important to enhance the ability to transform science and technology as much as possible and accelerate the introduction and promotion of solutions based on scientific discoveries, which will help alleviate or even eliminate the environmental, economic and other crises we face today.
Based on this, in 2022, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Research at Harvard University in the United States released the report "Deep Tech Entrepreneurship: From Lab to Impact" based on the "Technology and Public Interest" project [1].
Through the analysis of the origin and rise of hard technology, the driving force, and the commercialization investment, it hopes to inspire technology entrepreneurs to actively take action and adopt the most breakthrough science and technology today to achieve hard technology entrepreneurship that drives society forward.
Where does hard technology come from
Whether it is fighting epidemics, responding to climate change, or solving food security problems, in order to better overcome those urgent world problems, it is necessary to complete large-scale in-depth scientific and technological deployment.
But where exactly do these technologies come from?
The report mentions that these technologies are basically born in universities and government laboratories. The latter not only has sufficient research resources, but also absorbs many outstanding talents focusing on different technical fields, building a strong research ecosystem that helps to produce a large number of scientific discoveries, and is the main force for promoting the effective solution of social problems.
Among them, it should be noted that in addition to universities and scientific research institutions, the US National Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as "National Laboratory") is also focused on launching hard technology.
With an annual budget of $15 billion and more than 60,000 scientists and engineers, the National Laboratory is one of the largest and most active research ecosystems in the United States and globally.
The first national laboratory was founded in 1947, and until the 80s of the 20th century, the main task of the national laboratory was to develop technologies that would help advance the Cold War in the United States. Examples include the Department of Defense's Lincoln Laboratory, which develops radar for aircraft and ships, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which supports the Manhattan Project.
With the development of the times, the national laboratory has further expanded to petrochemical, pharmaceutical, communications, civil nuclear energy and other fields. Currently, 13 federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, sponsor a total of 42 national laboratories.
National Laboratory research involves key and emerging technologies in the United States (Source: Deep Tech Entrepreneurship: From Lab to Impact)
At the same time, it is worth mentioning that these national laboratories have developed new technologies covering transportation, aviation, defense, medical and other fields, including global positioning system and traffic collision avoidance system.
However, not every technology brings tangible benefits to society, and few early-stage technologies are commercialized as new products or services.
It is therefore necessary to accelerate the development of this process. At the same time, sufficient funds, talents and technologies are needed to promote the commercialization of early technologies into products.
Promote hard technology from laboratory to commercialization
So how do you turn a new scientific discovery into a product that meets society's most pressing needs?
Generally, science and technology are licensed by universities to technology startups or more established companies. These companies need to invest a lot of money to iterate on the original science and technology to make it suitable for market needs, but this leads to huge technical risks and may face failure.
For start-ups, it is common to raise funds to promote technology development and commercialization. But in the past, private investors generally chose to avoid the early stages of technology development in order to avoid greater risks, especially those areas that were not proven or new.
To help startups navigate their early stages, the U.S. federal government and foundations play a vital role in supporting research and development in important technology areas.
For example, since 1982, the U.S. federal government has launched the Small Business Innovation Research Program, which aims to promote the industrialization of scientific and technological innovation and achievements through government funding.
At the same time, philanthropic organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invest in start-up for-profit companies.
In recent years, with the rapid development of hard technology, some venture capital funds have begun to adapt to longer-term investment time and gradually take higher risks. They will invest in new companies with huge market prospects, such as fusion energy companies and cancer vaccine companies. Of course, once these companies can succeed, they will bring immeasurable returns to investors.
On the other hand, national laboratories have also played a role in promoting the commercialization of hard technology.
Although it announced the transfer of hard technology to the private sector as early as the 80s of the 20th century, the vast majority of technology developed by national laboratories is licensed to large conglomerates or traditional defense companies, rather than more innovative start-ups.
If startups are not given more opportunities to translate hard technology projects, those most advanced innovations may still be "locked in" in national laboratories.
Therefore, to support entrepreneurs in better discovering hard technology from national laboratories, the report also provides the following recommendations.
First, entrepreneurs can identify promising technologies from national laboratories. They then need to smoothly transfer intellectual property rights from laboratories to private entities through technology transfer offices. At the same time, it must further leverage public sector support to achieve the scale needed to make a technological impact.
Today, entrepreneurs who develop hard technologies have ample opportunities to take advantage of additional support from science and government to build new businesses. Conversely, these companies are expected to create more jobs and revenues, and address pressing sustainability needs across multiple sectors.
In addition, it cannot be ignored that venture capital is essential to drive startups to scale and accelerate their growth. So the report also proposes the creation of a new venture capital fund called Lab-to-Market Ventures to translate hard technology from national labs and other research institutions.
According to reports, the Market Venture Capital Fund prioritizes scientific discoveries in the fields of biotechnology, advanced materials and advanced engineering. That's because developments in these areas will not only have an important impact on everything from human health to climate issues, but will also require long-term capital support.
"By dissecting each lab's strengths and overlapping them with macroscopic areas of interest (human health, advanced materials, and engineering), we developed a preliminary and iterative tool to guide entrepreneurs and investors in identifying strong scientific innovation pipelines," the report states. ”
Mapping National Laboratories in Biotechnology (Source: Deep Tech Entrepreneurship: From Lab to Impact)
In summary, if we want to better promote the development of society, we must pay attention to the scientific discoveries needed in this era. Hard tech entrepreneurs and related start-ups can make important contributions to the commercialization of science and technology.
Imagine a better future for mankind if more and more hard technology companies could help the world's most advanced research centers amplify the impact of decades of innovative scientific research and effectively solve the urgent problems affecting the development of human society.
Resources:
1.Deep Tech Entrepreneurship: From Lab to Impact https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/deep-tech-entrepreneurship-lab-impact