Designers, Dentists and MBAs: Building a New Model for University Innovation

Many of today’s most transformative technologies have their origins in university research, from life-saving drugs and medical devices to advanced building materials. When these discoveries succeed in the marketplace, they not only improve lives but also become an important source of revenue for universities.

But the path from lab to market is rarely straightforward. Scientists face a range of challenges: traditional research grants typically don’t fund the costly “scale-up” phase of new inventions, while venture capitalists often hesitate to invest in untested, pre-commercial technologies. Many scientists also lack experience in business development or access to cross-sector partners (such as designers, lawyers, and entrepreneurs) needed to bring a breakthrough to market.

Building Partnerships with Penn Inventors

Supporting Penn inventors in overcoming these barriers has long been part of the Mack Institute’s mission. In addition to sponsoring academic research on commercialization, the Institute has for many years run the Y-Prize, where students developed commercial applications for scientists’ inventions, and the Penn–Wharton Commercialization Workshop, where scientists from the medical and engineering schools spend two days learning to translate their ideas into viable ventures.

Recently, we have expanded that focus even further. We are piloting a new MBA course, Commercialization of Academic Science (MGMT 891), which tasks students with developing go-to-market strategies for Penn inventions, as well as an AI-based app for assessing the commercialization potential of early-stage inventions.

Crucially, for the first time, the Mack Institute has begun working directly with research teams on multi-year projects that support inventors across every stage of the commercialization process. These projects foster direct partnerships that help researchers identify markets, test use cases, and build the connections needed to bring their technologies out of the lab and into the world.

“Commercialization of academic science doesn’t succeed in a vacuum. It requires a vibrant innovation ecosystem made up of diverse actors who can form a value-creating network around the inventor,” said Valery Yakubovich, Executive Director of the Mack Institute. “Wharton’s path-breaking research on innovation ecosystems informs the Mack Institute’s dual role: as a network node that develops go-to-market strategies and conducts customer discovery, and as an ecosystem orchestrator that brings in other value-adding partners—for example, collaborators from the School of Design for prototyping or from the School of Law for legal support.”

Teaming Up with the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry

That model of iterative, cross-campus collaboration led to our partnership with the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry (CiPD), a research center that unites scientists from Penn Dental Medicine and Penn Engineering to develop technologies that advance oral health.

“After brainstorming with Valery, we saw vast, untapped potential in dental medicine, where translating and commercializing academic discoveries still lags,” said Hyun (Michel) Koo, CiPD’s co-founder and Director. “With mounting evidence linking oral and systemic health, we can turn CiPD’s innovations into real-world solutions that reduce the burden of oral diseases and improve overall health.”

Together, the Mack Institute and CiPD launched a collaborative project to explore how nanorobot technology could transform oral health care. Developed in the labs of Professors Koo and Dr. Edward Steager, the technology uses iron oxide nanoparticles to detect and remove harmful dental plaque, combining brushing, flossing, and rinsing into one automated process that requires no manual effort from the user.

Koo believes the technology could have far-reaching impact in clinical settings, where poor oral hygiene and oral pathogens are linked to systemic complications — including cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, and hospital-acquired pneumonia — and in the consumer market, where it could help address persistently low brushing and flossing compliance.

Read More at the Mack Institute for Innovation Management