The gap between invention and commercial use
The inventors view
Sometimes there are lacks of interest by academic researchers to commercialise the methods they have developed. Different expectations and difficulties makes it sometimes difficult to come to an agreement between the inventor and the company that is going to do the exploitation.
The manufacturers view
It is important to speed up the validation procedures and to increase co-operations between producers, users and researchers of alternative toxicity tests to meet the future demands on true replacements for in vivo tests.
Comments from the Expert meeting
The gap comprises optimisation, validation, implementation and development to a product and there is a lack in financing as well as organisations that could bridge the gap. It is not possible to cover every part in the implementation process in one project. As an example, the role for a scientist could cover three years of research followed by two years of development within another specialised group, e.g. a CRO. Working with the different steps of “the gap” needs to be upgraded and more attractive.