Navigating the Valley of Death: Perceptions of Industry and Academia on Production Platforms and Opportunities in Biotechnology

Rational lifestyle engineering has improved performance of microbial cell factories in Industrial Biotechnology. However, few innovations make it through the Valley of Death to market implementation. To gain insights into the views of industry and academia on key bottlenecks and opportunities to reach market implementation, interviews were conducted with industrial and academic participants, helping us gathering the characteristics that any cell factory and bioprocess must have as well as commonly recognised opportunities.We found that academics are limited by technical factors, whereas industry is restricted by technical, sector-dependent and societal ones, leading to misalignments of interest which often result in miscommunication and missed cooperation opportunities. Although both consider that academia must perform curiosity-driven research, there is pressure for short-term industrial applications, which widens the Valley of Death in Biotechnology. In this context, start-ups could be the answer to traverse this valley more effectively, particularly when embedded in adequate innovation ecosystems.