TY - JOUR
T1 - Catalysts for Change
T2 - The Role of Small Business Funders in the Creation and Dissemination of Innovation
AU - Shic, Frederick
AU - Smith, Daniel
AU - Horsburgh, Brian
AU - Hollander, Eric
AU - Rehg, James M.
AU - Goodwin, Matthew
N1 - Funding Information:
In the lifecycle of a traditional translational science success story, (a) progress in basic science leads to novel treatments which are distilled via (b) clinical trials, the results of which (c) are then disseminated or made more broadly available. This process is typically well defined: research funding organizations, both public and private, offer opportunities for financial support; the ideas are reviewed and culled on the basis of scientific merit by domain experts; the trials and evaluation metrics, often clear from initial proposals, are implemented; finally, results are collected and reported. Moreover, in traditional areas of translation, research on basic science and technology already occurs in a context which incorporates an understanding of both the medical needs and challenges and the complex realities of care delivery. For innovative new technologies targeting the needs of individuals with developmental issues, there is a lack of an effective bootstrapping model for funding scientific development, and the connection between the technology community and the community of mental health researchers and clinicians is more tenuous. The source of novel technologies is often an academic research program in engineering or computer science which is focused on developing novel methods which improve performance in well-defined tasks with clear performance metrics (sometimes chosen somewhat arbitrarily). Most of the work is done by graduate students, with funding agencies such as the NSF placing a premium on student training. In general, the resulting innovations are constrained by the need to produce novel improvements upon the current state-of-the-art in the context of a Ph.D. dissertation or Master’s project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - A gap exists between the expanding space of technological innovations to aid those affected by autism spectrum disorders, and the actual impact of those technologies on daily lives. This gap can be addressed through a very practical path of commercialization. However, the path from a technological innovation to a commercially viable product is fraught with challenges. These challenges can be mitigated through small business funding agencies, which are, more and more, catalyzing the dissemination of innovation by fostering social entrepreneurship through capital support and venture philanthropy. This letter describes the differences and nature of these agencies, and their importance in facilitating the translational and real-world impact of technological and scientific discoveries.
AB - A gap exists between the expanding space of technological innovations to aid those affected by autism spectrum disorders, and the actual impact of those technologies on daily lives. This gap can be addressed through a very practical path of commercialization. However, the path from a technological innovation to a commercially viable product is fraught with challenges. These challenges can be mitigated through small business funding agencies, which are, more and more, catalyzing the dissemination of innovation by fostering social entrepreneurship through capital support and venture philanthropy. This letter describes the differences and nature of these agencies, and their importance in facilitating the translational and real-world impact of technological and scientific discoveries.
KW - Business
KW - Commercialization
KW - Funding
KW - Innovation
KW - Technology
KW - Translational science
KW - Venture philanthropy
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84947867217&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10803-015-2636-x
DO - 10.1007/s10803-015-2636-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 26481385
AN - SCOPUS:84947867217
SN - 0162-3257
VL - 45
SP - 3900
EP - 3904
JO - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
JF - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
IS - 12
ER -