COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION TO ADVANCE GLOBAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS

Effective models for translating academic research into technological solutions harness collaborative efforts across sectors. Pernicious gaps between the discovery, development, and deployment phases in product development can be traversed through partnerships that preserve incentives and rewards for all participants. The semisynthetic artemisinin project to produce low-cost treatments for malaria in developing country populations was implemented through a multiparty partnership that never lost sight of the overarching goal of an affordable cure. The partnership harnessed the respective strengths and investments of academia, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and philanthropy to achieve its global health goals. All participants derived benefits from the partnership at different times and in different ways. Each partner contributed its unique resources and strengths to the project, focusing its efforts on its respective role while engaging in cross-sector exchanges to accelerate progress.