Your Next Innovation May Already Exist

Connecting business challenges with scientific knowledge.

What if the missing piece in a project had already been developed elsewhere?

A company needs to solve a technical challenge. A research team may already hold a relevant patent or have the specialist expertise needed to help address it. They are working on related problems, yet neither may know about the other’s progress.

Before investing in developing that missing piece from scratch, it is worth finding out who may already have made progress.

The company may need a technology it can adapt, specialist knowledge, or a partner to help complete a development project. Meanwhile, a research institution may have valuable findings without having identified which organizations could apply them.

Sometimes, the knowledge already exists. What is missing is knowing where to find it and who could use it.

Companies seek solutions. Research needs pathways to application.

For a company, the question is which existing knowledge or capabilities could help address its challenge. For a research institution, it is where its findings could have a practical application. Connecting the two requires evidence of relevance on both sides.

Research that has not been commercially exploited has not necessarily failed. It may still need a specific application, a partner, or further development.

A 2025 report by CBI Economics for the University of Exeter, based on a survey of 235 UK businesses across different sectors, found that 47% of respondents with fewer than 250 employees identified a lack of awareness of the opportunities and benefits of collaborating with academia as a barrier.

The challenge is not simply whether relevant knowledge exists, but whether organizations know where to look and how it could help address their needs.

Existing contacts do not reveal every option.

Professional networks, conferences, and search engines are useful starting points. However, finding a potential research partner means locating information across different sources and assessing its relevance to a specific need.

What has each team developed? Which part of the problem could it help solve? What publication, patent, or project supports that possibility?

Assessing potential partners also means distinguishing between a team with sustained expertise in a field and one with only an isolated publication on the topic. Relevant projects, the quality and relevance of published research, patents, and demonstrated technical capabilities help build that picture. Journal reputation alone is not enough to establish whether a team is the right fit.

Searching only among familiar organizations can leave relevant capabilities undiscovered. Searching by keywords alone can produce numerous results without clarifying which deserve attention.

Two teams may study the same disease while addressing very different questions. Conversely, a technology developed for another application could contribute part of the solution.

Finding information is not the same as finding a fit.

Data can reveal potential innovation partners.

Digital analysis of scientific publications, patents, projects, and information about organizations makes it possible to explore these connections more systematically.

The first step is to define the search:

• For a company: what challenge needs to be addressed, and what knowledge or capabilities are missing?
• For a research institution: which findings or capabilities could have further applications, and what might those applications be?

This provides a basis for identifying organizations with relevant activities and gathering evidence to support further exploration.

The result is a report mapping potential partners against the company’s or research institution’s specific challenges and needs. The organization receives the information compiled and analyzed, together with sources, reasons for potential fit, and the relevant people to contact within each organization to assess that fit, without having to find and review each source itself.

This streamlines the search and helps focus effort on assessing the options and preparing better-informed conversations.

Evidence explains who could fit and why.

A list of names is not enough to decide whom to contact. The report should explain:

• Who could contribute: which company, institution, or team has relevant knowledge, capabilities, or needs.
• What supports the connection: which publication, patent, project, or documented business challenge provides the basis for the potential match.
• Why there may be a fit: which part of the challenge could be addressed, or what application could be explored.

For example, a diagnostics company might identify a research group whose publication is relevant to improving one stage of its process. The report would identify the group, the specific work, and its potential relevance to the challenge.

From the other direction, a research institution might identify companies whose activities suggest a possible application for one of its patents, with supporting information explaining their inclusion.

A potential match is a possibility to investigate. Technology maturity, conditions of use, and both parties’ interest still need to be assessed.

A map to decide whom to approach.

For companies, hospitals, technology centers, and research institutions across the healthcare ecosystem, this information can help guide the search for collaborators and explore opportunities for knowledge transfer.

The practical shift is from searching through familiar contacts and scattered findings to having potential partners, sources, and reasons for fit that help determine which opportunities to investigate and whom to approach.

A report tailored to the challenge brings this information together as a starting point for action: assessing potential partners, exploring applications, and preparing a specific proposal for discussion.

Before starting from scratch, it is worth knowing who has already made progress and on what.

Hub members interested in finding scientific knowledge to address a business challenge or potential collaborators to help translate research findings into practical applications can contact Alba Gigante, PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and CEO of SCIENTISTS360, at albagigante@scientists360.com, to learn more about the reports and partner mapping services available through SCIENTISTS360.