Developing a commercial strategy for a world-leading biomedical research organisation
Snapshot
At a glance
A world-leading biomedical research organisation sought to strengthen its commercial activities to generate new income from its existing research and innovation assets.
Client
A leading research organisation with untapped commercial potential.
Challenge
The client was facing budgetary pressures and a mandate to generate income from its assets.
Support
Newmarket Strategy led an international benchmarking exercise and extensive programme of stakeholder engagement to develop and evaluate a range of commercial opportunities.
Outcome
Based on our recommendations, the organisation invested in a new commercial laboratory facility whilst implementing a portfolio of lower-risk income-generating improvements.
The challenge
Translating scientific excellence into commercial value
A world-leading biomedical research institute, built an exceptional scientific reputation in fundamental research, however, faced growing budgetary pressures. It had received a significant philanthropic investment to support commercial translation and ensure its research would generate economic opportunities. The challenge was to develop a credible, evidence-based set of options in their commercial strategy that would generate new income without compromising the institute's core research mission.
Our approach
A structured, evidence-based process
Newmarket developed the different commercial options within the strategy keeping the organisation's core mission at the forefront. Commercial activities were assessed on their financial return, risk profile, time to impact and compatibility with the organisational culture
Internal discovery: We interviewed ~25 members of staff to understand how existing assets were being used, where commercial translation was already occurring, and what appetite existed for new commercial activities. External benchmarking: We identified and analysed over 20 national and global research exemplars, supplemented by interviews with 10 of them, to understand the breadth of commercial models in operation and what the organisation could credibly replicate or adapt. Strategy design: We collaborated with the client to develop a set of options - 8 shorter-term opportunities building on existing capabilities, and two more transformative options requiring new investment. We co-designed draft business cases for each, ran collaborative workshops with the client, and built an evaluation framework enabling explicit comparison of risks, returns, and strategic fit across the full option set.
The outcome
A strategy that was acted upon
The organisation chose to invest in the most ambitious of the transformative options, the development of a new commercial laboratory facility, whilst simultaneously implementing a range of lower-risk income-generating improvements from the shorter-term portfolio. The decision reflected a strategy that was honestly presented and credibly evidenced. Leadership understood the commitment they were making and had confidence in the rationale behind it.
