Simon Goldman on transforming hard science into global impact
Podcast Episode with Simon Goldman, Partner
Posted
Spark time with Simon Goldman, Partner AlbionVC (UCL Technology Fund)
The complex interplay between academic research, commercialisation, and the biotech industry’s unique challenges.
Simon Goldman, investor at AlbionVC chats with Dani Stoltzfus and Will Riedl from Mighty Spark Communications in their podcast about the challenges involved in the commercialisation of academic research and the importance of storytelling in scientific communication to drive innovation and attract investment.
Simon kicks off with his career journey: Simon has a background in neuroscience with experience at Goldman Sachs and in various biotech startups in the UK and Australia. He currently manages the UCL Technology Fund’s life sciences team.
Among the challenges in commercialising academic research are:
- Scientific mindset vs. business perspective: Simon discusses the challenges of helping academic founders, who are deeply focused on their scientific work, to understand the commercial implications and potential of their research.
- Impact vs. publication: The need for academics to consider the broader impact of their research beyond publications, including how it can lead to real-world applications that benefit society – but that these are not mutually exclusive.
And on the role of biotechnology and the private sector he identifies:
- high risk in biotech investments: The biotech industry is described as highly risky, with the expectation that most investments will fail. However, successful ventures can have significant impacts both socially and economically.
- government vs. private sector roles: The private sector is deemed essential for commercialising biotechnological innovations due to its ability to take risks and manage large-scale manufacturing, clinical trials and commercial distribution to maximise global impact. Simon notes that governments’ responsibility is to focus on broad societal goods like infrastructure, public services, health and education rather than engaging in high-risk biotech commercialisation.
Simon stresses that patents are crucial for ensuring that biotech companies can protect their inventions and, in turn, make a profit. This profitability is necessary to attract investment and drive the global adoption of new therapies. He encourages academics to consult with tech transfer offices before publishing their findings to ensure that their research can be patented, which is essential for commercialisation and therefore global impact.
They also discuss global market dynamics:
- US market dominance: The US is by far the largest and most important market for biotech funding and commercialisation. Companies, regardless of their origin, need to focus on the US market to achieve significant commercial success.
- communication styles: Simon explains the difference between the communication styles of Australian, UK, and US investors, noting that US investors tend to be more direct and aggressive in their approach.
London’s Biotech ecosystem is described by Simon as a major hub for biotech innovation, thanks to its world-class hospitals and research institutions – and the partnerships between them.
In terms of the evolving trends in biotechnology, Simon explores the evolution of gene and cell therapies, acknowledging the initial excitement in relation to these technologies given their powerful efficacy – but also the challenges faced by companies commercialising these therapies in that their high costs and sometimes limited patient populations have constrained profitability.
New modalities are attracting attention and emerging ones like gene editing are on his radar. While these are generating significant interest and investment, the reality of drug approvals and bringing these therapies to market is lagging behind the hype.
Concluding, Simon sends a strong message to the academic community – to pay attention to the factors that could maximise the societal impact of their research from the earliest stages of ideation, and taking the necessary steps to facilitate successful commercialisation.