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GIW Roundtable Workshops FORUM ON INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALISATION IN GENOME-SCALE BIOINFORMATICS Chair/Moderator:
Dr
Jill Gray, Manager, Professor
Ming Li, Professor
Limsoon Wong, Bioinformatics grew out of the early genome-sequencing projects, and has now developed into an enabling platform essential for life science research. Advances in technology make it possible to deeper questions, but also present challenges arising from the large volumes of data that must be captured, managed, integrated, analysed and visualised. Addressing these challenges demand innovative bioinformatics and information technology solutions. Organisations are tackling these challenges in a variety of ways, and have applied a range of commercialisation models with varying degrees of short- and long-term success. This forum on innovation and commercialization in bioinformatics brought together representatives from industry, government and academia with experience in the commercialisation of bioinformatics to share their thoughts and experience, and to answer questions from conference delegates. The panellists first shared with GIW delegates their own diverse experiences with bioinformatics commercialisation and innovation. Mervyn, Limsoon and David described their experiences with commercialisation of bioinformatics research and services and various start-up companies, highlighting commercial strategies that were or were not successful. Jill then presented Queensland Government policies supporting innovation and commercialisation, and Jeremy concluded the opening addresses with a description of his key findings from a Churchill Fellowship-supported international study tour of bioinformatics services provision, and the QFAB experience. A common theme from these presentations involved the commercial challenges faced in the commercial sector for bioinformatics products, including the nature of the product (e.g. software, data or hardware) or service (e.g. data curation or provision of skills-based solutions) to be commercialised. A strength highlighted by the discussions was the sustainability provided by commercial bioinformatics solutions: whereas open-source or in-house bioinformatics can be derailed by loss of key personnel, commercial services can guarantee continuity and quality. It was also noted, however, that open-source solutions can be adequate for some intended uses, and companies have successfully commercialised software in this arena. The panelists presented a variety of models for bioinformatics commercialisation which had met varying degrees of success. Limsoon contrasted pricing strategies actually used by two different companies: in one, a full product was packaged with a single, expensive price, whereas the second was incremental, with an entry-level price for a basic product and many small increases for additional features; the latter was more successful. Mervyn highlighted the importance of offering cutting-edge products and services in a field such as bioinformatics that changes so rapidly. A skill or technique may be “cutting-edge today, but in six months a commodity”; it is, therefore, imperative for providers to stay at the crest of the wave in order to survive. Ming characterised his company’s strategy as providing cutting-edge services to the more-discerning sector of the market. Discussions initiated by questions from the floor covered difficulties in assessing the value of research and knowledge-based products to justify government investment in innovation and commercialisation; the importance of preserving commercial value through intellectual property management; managing the potentially competing interests of science and commercialisation; the difficulties in determining an appropriate business model for bioinformatics; and the important role of governments in linking R&D with domestic and international markets. The animated discussion around these and other topics of interest reflect the level of interest in innovation and commercialisation in bioinformatics across a broad sector of the Australian and international community. The overarching conclusion was that each commercialisation strategy demands a careful assessment of the presented opportunity; no single solution is the absolute answer in every instance, and opportunities can appear, evolve and disappear on a dynamic basis. Astute business judgment determines the blend of nature of the products and/or services that can successfully be commercialised in each case. The workshop was very well-attended, with no shortage of questions and comments from the audience. Informal discussion continued well after the close of the session. Specific dot-points: The challenges:
The benefits:
Different models: what has worked
Different models: what hasn’t worked
Innovation Round Table Workshop Report .pdf Round table 2 - Tuesday 2 December 15:50 - 17:00 FORUM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENOME-SCALE BIOINFORMATICS IN CHINA AND INDIA Participants: Genome-scale biology is generating unprecedented quantities of data relevant to most fundamental and applied areas of the life sciences including agriculture, fisheries and forestry, ecological sciences and biodiversity, human health and disease, and molecular and cellular biotechnology. Existing and new technologies for automated DNA sequencing, gene expression analysis, proteomics, systems analysis, imaging and high-content screening are widely available, adding locally produced data sources to the wealth of information available on-line from international data facilities such as EBI or NCBI. The quantity and complexity of these data requires researchers, institutions and countries to apply information technologies of corresponding scale and sophistication. Bioinformatics encompasses the management and analysis of these data, and development and provision of software tools, and immediately proximate areas of mathematics, statistics and algorithmics. In Asia, the economically developing countries China and India have been deeply involved in bioinformatics for several decades. With the emergence of these countries as economic superpowers, this is an opportune moment to discuss where these countries are currently poised; what challenges they face; what strategies they have developed or are developing in research, development, infrastructure, education and training for bioinformatics; what the prognosis might be for their future development in this important area; what opportunities are available for international coordination and collaboration; and not least, what broader lessons can be learnt from their development and success in genome informatics. “Rising bioinformatic stars” CHINA Specific issues discussed in this workshop included:
Job prospects
for bioinformatics graduates in China are good. Some graduates
go Much information is available at the following two websites:
Bioinformatics
in India started in 1981
Main components of national strategy (for further detail, see below):
The Indian government and institutions have noted China’s success in attracting overseas Chinese back to China, and are considering how to emulate this vis-à-vis overseas Indians, whether for permanent relocation or on a part-time basis. One possibility being discussed is that overseas Indians might be made eligible to apply for government research grants. |
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