Taking research to market

Katja began the first session by outlining various steps in the commercialisation journey from lab to market. She explained why it is important first and foremost to validate the problem you're aiming to solve. 

"Before you actually throw your next ten years into doing research, you really need to be able to fully back the problem you're trying to solve. Will it still be a problem in five years’ time or is this just a problem for right now?” she asked.

To validate a problem, you need to keep finding answers to these kinds of questions to prove that your problem reveals an unmet need and that your solution is the best option

To help validate whether a problem is real, is experienced by many and that your potential solution is scalable, Katja urged participants to consider:

• Who experiences the problem? Is it a widespread issue or a niche challenge?
• Is the problem urgent and long-term? Will it still matter in five years, or is it a passing trend?
• Is there a viable solution already? It’s important that, from the outset, you establish if someone else is trying to solve the same issue, how far along they are in their journey and whether their idea may be better than yours.

"To validate a problem, you need to keep finding answers to these kinds of questions to prove that your problem reveals an unmet need and that your solution is the best option,” Katja said. “Once you start to gather these kinds of data, you can be sure that you’re not going to be wasting time nor resources.”

How advanced is your tech?

The next steps involve prototyping and testing. During this process, you will be able to assess your technology readiness level as you gradually refine your idea into a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) that can be brought to market.

After validating the problem and crafting the MVP, it’s time to address the regulatory aspects of bringing a MedTech product to market. 

Katja touched on the need to know what are the specific regulations that apply to your product, whether it’s a device, therapeutic, or diagnostic tool. 

"When it comes to regulation, different jurisdictions have different requirements, so you must develop a robust regulatory strategy early in the process to ensure that your product is not only safe for use, but compliant as well,” Katja explained.

Turning research into a business

“Remember that just having a device that is deemed safe doesn't mean the world wants to use it. You need to scale it in the market too,” Katja said, explaining why having a market entry strategy is equally important.

The workshop outlined how bringing medtech to market requires substantial resources, planning and scaling, with different strategies needed for:

• Funding: Research alone isn’t enough; to bring a product to market, you need funding to support regulatory processes, prototyping, and scaling. Early-stage funding options like grants or venture capital can help push your innovation forward.
• Partnerships: Finding the right distribution partners, manufacturers, and market entry channels is important. Scaling production from a small research environment to a larger manufacturing operation is often one of the most challenging aspects of commercialisation.

Protecting IP

Katja recommended that researchers start thinking about protecting their IP very early on in their commercialisation journey.

"Intellectual property is not just about protecting your ideas. It's about turning those ideas into something valuable that you can license, sell, or use exclusively to stop competitors,” she said.

Will Hird added that IP enables you to maintain exclusivity and safeguard your ideas from competitors.

“The importance of protecting IP early on cannot be overstated. Not only does it provide legal protection, but it also makes the technology more attractive to investors and potential business partners,” he said.

“Don’t wait until you have a finished product. Start thinking about IP protection during the early stages of research, even when you’re still gathering data.”

In academic settings, the institution often owns the IP created by researchers. 

Don’t wait until you have a finished product. Start thinking about IP protection during the early stages of research, even when you’re still gathering data.

“It’s important to understand your ownership rights and ensure that you can protect and leverage your inventions,” Will reminded the participants, advising researchers to seek legal advice on which kinds of IP rights to pursue based on their innovation and in which jurisdictions.

“Once you have IP rights, you can license your technology to others, or maintain exclusivity, preventing competitors from using your ideas.”

Protecting IP can be costly, so it’s essential to justify this expense, especially when seeking funding or commercialisation support. Having a solid IP strategy can help validate the long-term potential of your product.

Understanding the customer and the market

Having introduced the Bootcamp on day one with a session on how to take their ideas from the lab to the market by focusing on problem validation, regulatory pathways, intellectual property protection, funding strategies and go to market planning, Katja opened day two with a discussion of market and customer segmentation.

She identified the importance of understanding exactly who your customer is.

By dividing customers based on common characteristics such as demographic, geographic, psychograph and behavioural, technographic, health literacy and habits and disease characteristics, you can be clear on who your product is for and then get to know your target market.

“We have to be really granular in what the customer values,” she said. “You have to ask: how would this information be relevant to someone to make a decision to say yes or no to my product?” 

Katja also spoke about the value of making strategic partnerships. Katja then discussed the concept of building an MVP that satisfies the needs of a specific target group, explaining why it should be feasible and realistic for users to incorporate into their lives. 

We have to be really granular in what the customer values. You have to ask: how would this information be relevant to someone to make a decision to say yes or no to my product?

She explained the value of co-designing products with end users to understand their needs, and expanding product offerings based on user feedback. The importance of tracking research impact and forming partnerships to achieve commercialisation goals was also discussed.

The group explored a range of different funding options, from loans, grants and government incentives to investments from family and friends, venture capitalists, family offices, angel investors, high net-worth individuals and via a stock exchange listing (IPO). 

Developing a pitch

The Bootcamp concluded with a discussion about pitching, with two elevator techniques proposed.

1. The conversation starter or golden circle (30 seconds) 

• Why do you do what you do? What’s the purpose? 
• How do you do what you do? 
• What do you do? 

2. The Gaddie pitch (45 seconds) 

• Start with the problem 
• Explain what you do 
• Show proof 
• Explain your next milestones 
• Your ask 

Katja advised the researchers to keep their language simple, avoid jargon and technical terms and be willing to show their emotional, human connection to the problem. 

Connect with future commercialisation training opportunities

Neil Radford, the MedTech Research Translation Manager at UTS, was delighted to witness so many researchers taking advantage of the first MedTech Bootcamp delivered in partnership with Cicada Innovations. 

“These sessions are aimed to build awareness and foster new foundations for research translation to commercialisation,” he said.  “The Bootcamp is underpinned by UTS’s Foci Initiative that seeks to fast-track innovation with pump-prime funding and ongoing support from the Business Research Engagement team.”

Neil looks forward to working with more researchers to deliver similar Bootcamps over the next twelve months to uncover research solutions to wicked problems.

To learn more about research commercialisation and future training opportunities, connect with the Business Research Engagement team in the Research Office.