Steve Prokesch

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">In Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Problem</h5>
  <p>Early-stage research is expensive, risky, and unpredictable—so corporations shy away from it, leaving many opportunities unexplored.</p>
  <h5>The Solution</h5>
  <p>By pursuing research aimed at solving society’s major problems, companies can make the world a better place <em>and</em> make lots of money.</p>
  <h5>The Model</h5>
  <p>MIT’s Bob Langer has a proven formula for accelerating the pace of discoveries and getting them into the world as products—and it’s one that any organization can draw on.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p>One morning last year, James Dahlman came to Bob Langer’s office at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research to say good-bye. He was meeting with Langer and Dan Anderson—his doctoral advisers. The 29-year-old was about to take up his first faculty position, in the biomedical engineering department at Georgia Tech, and he wanted their advice.</p>

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<p>Early-stage research is expensive, risky, and unpredictable&#8212;so corporations generally shy away from it, leaving many opportunities unexplored. They could revitalize their research operations by adopting the approach taken by Bob Langer, a chemical engineer whose lab at MIT is one of the most productive and profitable research facilities in the world.</p>
<p>HBR senior editor Prokesch reports in depth on Langer Lab&#8217;s proven formula for accelerating the pace of discoveries and getting them into the world as products. It includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>a focus on high-impact projects&#8212;ones that could make a major difference to society</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>a process for crossing the proverbial &#8220;valley of death&#8221; between research and commercial development</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>methods for facilitating multidisciplinary collaboration</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>ways to make the constant turnover of researchers and the limited duration of project funding a plus</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>a leadership style that balances freedom and support</li>
</ul>
<p>By drawing on the Langer Lab values and model, companies could make the world a better place <em>and</em> make lots of money in the process.</p>

The Edison of Medicine

Early-stage research is expensive, risky, and unpredictable—so corporations generally shy away from it, leaving many opportunities unexplored. They could revitalize their research operations by adopting the approach taken by Bob Langer, a chemical engineer whose lab at MIT is one of the most productive and profitable research facilities in the world. HBR senior editor Prokesch reports in depth on Langer Lab’s proven formula for accelerating the pace of discoveries and getting them into the world as products. It includes: a focus on high-impact projects—ones that could make a major difference to society a process for crossing the proverbial “valley of death” between research and commercial development methods for facilitating multidisciplinary collaboration ways to make the constant turnover of researchers and the limited duration of project funding a plus a leadership style that balances freedom and support By drawing on the Langer Lab values and model, companies could make the world a better place and make lots of money in the process.

The Edison of Medicine

Summary.

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