Bentley’s Center for Integration of Science and Industry (CISI), founded in 2013 with a $1.3M grant from the National Biomedical Research Foundation (NBRF), was awarded renewed funding from the NBRF: $2.3M over the next five years. The Center will continue to focus on its mission of understanding the processes involved in translating scientific discoveries to create public value, and to accelerate these processes by engaging science and industry in interdisciplinary dialogue, scholarship, and education.
Center Director Fred Ledley summarizes its work as “maximizing the public value of scientific discoveries, not only by helping entrepreneurs build successful companies, but also by helping deliver the innovative products that the public needs, such as, improved therapies for disease and sustainable sources of energy.”
Ledley notes that the Center’s efforts have shown that “innovation requires innovation in both technology and in business; it is the best combination of science and business that wins.” Ledley and colleagues at the Center focus on understanding how business models can better complement the process of scientific discovery, creating more value at a faster pace, and bringing new, ordered, connections to what’s typically “a fairly disordered ecosystem of science and business.”
The additional funding will enable the Center to extend its research activities, provide additional opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research, and expand outreach to industry through collaborative partnerships and communications, such as the Innovator’s Business Series.
Valuation and Predictability
To date, the Center has focused on how technologies mature, how this maturation is supported by investment, and how it is reflected in valuation. “There’s a perception that science and scientific success are unpredictable, which has compromised valuation,” Ledley explains. “Yet our research shows that scientific advances are predictable, and follow certain patterns. We have been able to build forecasting algorithms that can quantify technological and scientific progress; progress that should be reflected in corporate valuations.”
Properly valuing technologies as they mature is a critical part of getting industry and science to work better together, with a lack of synchronous value systems hurting both sides. “Accounting really matters,” says Ledley. “How you account for scientific discoveries, for the cost of R&D, and for intellectual properties can really affect investments in innovation and the ability of start-up companies to develop important products.”
The perception of risk also matters. “There’s this romantic idea,” says Ledley, “that science involves a-ha! or ‘Eureka!’ moments that are totally unpredictable. This is a misconception. Patterns of growth are in fact quite consistent in science, and it’s possible to forecast.”
The Center is developing tools for technological forecasting that may take some of the risk out of investments in science. Forecasting tools are important for technology-intensive industries and investors who must roadmap advances in science and technology, what their capabilities will be over time, what innovative products might be developed, and the value that such products will provide to consumers. “We have not previously had tools for technological forecasting in biotechnology. Our expectation is that the tools the Center is developing will become best practice and part of the arsenal of what works in technology management,” says Ledley.
Big Data and Science
Another area of focus for the Center is applying “Big Data” and data analytics in its research. “Data analytics is a real strength of Bentley University,” says Ledley, “and a powerful way to look at the dynamics between science, business, and medicine. We are now able to examine hundreds of thousands of published scientific papers and patents to better understand how technologies mature and create value.”
The Center works closely with the Data Analytics Research Team (DART) in the Mathematical Sciences Department, and students from the Masters in Business Analytics program work as graduate research assistants in the Center alongside the Center’s research faculty and fellows, Executives in Residence, and undergraduate students.
Science in a Fusion Curriculum
Undergraduate students have a central role in the Center’s research. In addition to contributing to research in corporate finance, management, and accounting, students in the Center have learned how to use advanced analytical and database software and even how to code in SQL, Python, and R.
The interdisciplinary approach students learn at the Center, Ledley notes, is a great example of both the mission of the Center and of the uniquely fused nature of Bentley’s curriculum. “The work of science leads to innovative products and new businesses. One of the unique things about Bentley is that science is taught within a business environment, just as corporate R&D contributes within a business strategy. In our Center, students study how scientific advances create value for business and for the public, and acquire unique insights that prepare them for leadership positions in technology-driven industries.”