Page 107 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

THE NAI PROFILE 445

I think one of the key features for success in both expecting a return on those investments to improve
is that people need to be inspired and they need to their lot or the lot of their kids. I think one needs to
know why. There needs to be purpose. This is a pur- be pursuing a strong balance of long-term research
pose-led organization: reinventing the way people along with seeing how that research can benefit and
make things, design things, engineer things, and improve the health and well-being of society.
deliver things. A lot of it is directed to health care, T&I: Turning from the general to the more personal,
lowering health care costs and changing the way I’d like to dig in a little on your own story. You are a
people treat and cure diseases, making cars more serial entrepreneur, and it’s one thing to be an entre-
fuel-efficient and safer—really, all sorts of purposes preneur and another thing altogether to be a serial
are embedded in what we do. Universities are similar. entrepreneur. Statistically, only one in ten adults
I think the strong connection between the two is that engages in entrepreneurial activities in the U.S. and
they are purpose-led organizations. an even narrower subset (29% of the original one in
I’m a big believer in research, especially academic ten) can be classified as serial entrepreneurs. What
research and how it can create new things that are do you identify as the reason for your involvement
better and can improve the health and well-being in what is really such a rare activity?
of society. This becomes a call to action. I think too
many times academic research can lie dormant and DeSimone: I think it’s addicting. Once you start
never get outside the academy. There is a moral obli- doing it, the challenge is that the highs can be really,
gation to do that. If one of my colleagues invents a really high and the lows can be really, really low. To
cure for AIDS or Ebola and if she publishes a paper try to do it with an even keel is important. I can tell
before her university even files a patent, the $600 you that, with one of my earlier endeavors before
million of needed follow-on investment may never Carbon, when I was watching remotely when our
happen in order to convert that brilliant concept into first biodegradable stent was being implanted in a
a legitimate product. It is vital to foster openness, but human in New Zealand, my knees were weak and
that doesn’t mean it isn’t also vital for universities I had goosebumps. It was unbelievable. Now, there
to protect inventions with patents. That is neces- are over 200,000 people around the world who have
sary if breakthrough research is going to have the our stents.
significant societal impact that it can have. The abil- When I go to the Midwest and talk to Chip Gear,
ity for academic research to lead to transformative who is a retired Navy Captain with a business that
products depends on financing from commercial is changing the footprint in the Rust Belt of the U.S.
interests—financing that is not achievable without and creating jobs and businesses and driving inno-
a strong patent. vation, it’s pretty heartwarming and inspiring. It’s
I love the marketplace. The marketplace in a heady stuff going into some of these humble places
controlled way really elevates society. If you publish and seeing that people are so damned fired up that a
something, and it’s open, and it’s not patented first, tech group out in this Silicon Valley is helping them
commercial interests now lack incentive to invest change their businesses. That’s pretty heady. When
significant money to develop a product and enable they start talking about visions that are as big as your
that research to achieve its true impact and improve own vision and based on your technology, it is goose-
people’s lives. It wouldn’t be uncommon to need to bumps time. That’s truly motivating for a science
plow one billion dollars into a new drug to go through person, a polymer person; that’s pretty neat.
all the appropriate FDA approval studies on efficacy And it is addicting to see that your toolbox can
and safety. If that money doesn’t get invested, the be helpful to others. When I started doing medi-
product will never see the light of day. I think there’s cal-related research that involved NIH funding, it
a need—I think there’s a moral obligation—to patent was a powerful experience. NIH often has patient
breakthroughs in academic research. There are a lot advocates who go on peer review site visits, you know,
of people who are waking up at 3:30 in the morning cancer survivors who are scientists and engineers
to go to work and making minimum wage and paying standing by a student’s poster trying to understand
taxes that go to the National Science Foundation and their approach for treating pancreatic cancer. Are you
the National Institutes of Health (NIH). People are kidding? Talk about a high. That is so motivating,