Answer to last week’s question: Inevitably, a clear and compelling unmet need is more critical to a start-up’s success, no matter how great the technological breakthrough is. If it does not address an unmet need somewhere on the horizon, then there is no likely home for it.
For those that may be digging deeper on identifying or validating an unmet need, a suggestion: Try to understand why this unmet need has not been addressed already. Was it due to:
· inadequate understanding of the science?
· inadequate effectiveness of past technologies?
· lack of market awareness of an evolving niche?
You will require a significant investment of your time and effort in discussions with a variety of relevant KOL’s, plus an extensive review of publications in order to better prepare yourself in order to ask the right questions.
Identifying Unmet Needs in Action
I had the pleasure earlier this week of participating in the relocation of an exciting cardiovascular (CV) technology, ViTAA (Virtual Touch of Aortic Aneurysms) from the University of Calgary (U of C) to Quebec’s MedTech Ecosystem – specifically to be located in the Centech Propulsion system.
Dr Randy Moore, Co-Founder and Chief of Vascular Surgery at the University of Calgary, expressed excitement at finally seeing years of research - with Co-Founder and Researcher Dr Elena Di Martino - finally coming to fruition. “The unmet need for better technologies for aortic aneurysm mapping and rupture prediction are critical to better clinical management of this disease.”
This is a prime example of how a clear and compelling unmet need was eventually transformed into a promising and concrete business opportunity, and further leveraged with an Ecosystem already in place to accelerate the transformation process “From R&D to R2D”.
In the case of ViTAA, having a KOL as one of the Founders was a great start, and one that was only strengthened by Dr. Moore leveraging his extensive network of vascular surgeons across North America. Even a leading KOL understands the importance of multiple KOL’s when gathering business intelligence. After the KOL unmet need research, ViTAA ended up with an even more compelling unmet need for “mapping and forecasting” as opposed to “forecasting” alone.
Furthermore, “leveraging Quebec’s Medtech Ecosystem to bring this technology to market was of paramount importance in the decision to relocate here,” said Dr Moore.