In my experience, the key is integrated planning and decision-making across scientific and commercial dimensions over the full project duration. I think that proactive communication and coordination is essential. With the right balance, the biotech innovation can succeed in the market. A few tips below: 1. Employ the right talent with expertise in scientific, business development, regulatory, manufacturing, and commercial areas to inform project planning and execution. 2. Actively Encourage integrated teamwork. 3. Establish a realistic project timeline and budget that provides time and resources for the scientific work while keeping the end commercial goals in mind. 4. Succed or fail efficiently. Learn from your mistakes and move on!

Para lograr un equilibrio entre la ciencia y los negocios en el ámbito de la biotecnología es necesario alinear las estrategias y lograr el éxito a largo plazo. Para empezar, hay que establecer objetivos claros y compartidos, de modo que tanto los equipos científicos como los comerciales trabajen para alcanzar los mismos resultados. Hay que fomentar una comunicación abierta e interdisciplinaria con actualizaciones periódicas para superar las brechas y fomentar la colaboración. Por último, hay que utilizar la toma de decisiones basada en datos para orientar las estrategias de investigación y de negocios, garantizando que la innovación se alinee con las necesidades del mercado y la sostenibilidad.

A continuación propongo tres consejos prácticos para equilibrar investigación y negocio: 1. Mide el progreso: Evalúa tanto el rendimiento científico como el potencial comercial de cada proyecto. Pregúntate: ?El proceso es escalable? ?Los costos de producción permitirán que sea rentable? 2. Integra conocimientos: Reúne expertos científicos y de desarrollo comercial. Las reuniones semanales permiten que cada especialista aporte su perspectiva y anticipe desafíos desde diferentes ángulos. 3. Selecciona estratégicamente: Evalúa los proyectos considerando tanto su impacto científico como su viabilidad comercial. Esto asegura que tus innovaciones sean sólidas y sostenibles en el tiempo.

Balancing science and business in biotechnology is like walking a tightrope, requiring constant adjustment. In my journey with Diverse Genomics, this balance was one of our toughest challenges. As scientists, we were passionate about innovation, but as business leaders, we needed to ensure commercial viability. To align these goals, we fostered open communication between R&D and business teams. Scientists presented their ideas in business terms—market potential, cost-effectiveness, and scalability—while the business team gained a basic understanding of the science to better assess feasibility. This synergy creates solutions that are innovative, impactful, and commercially successful.

I'll answer this from the perspective of a lab vendor (not a therapeutic developer). On the one hand, you have the technical competencies of the research team and the reagents, instruments, services, or software they want to develop. On the other hand, you have the market (labs at therapeutic developers or academic institutions) and the needs they have in their research. In the middle is the sales team. They constantly have their "ears to the ground" in terms of market needs, so they're extremely well-positioned to guide what the company launches next. Don't release a new lab product or service without first verifying there's a need in the market. And if you don't do that, then definitely don't blame the sales team when the launch flops.