For a discovery made in the laboratory to end up becoming a new treatment, a medical technology or a clinical tool, it must overcome a long journey involving many actors, resources and strategic decisions. A good scientific idea is only the first step.
This is one of the key messages conveyed by Pablo Estañol, innovation project manager at IDIBELL and project coordinator European XarSMART project, in a recent interview on Via 15. Beyond explaining the work of XarSMART – which acts as a bridge to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from academia and research laboratories to the industrial world –, the conversation offers an opportunity to reflect on what a research project needs in order to become an innovation with a real impact on people’s health.
Drawing on his experience supporting technology transfer projects, here are five key ideas that can be useful for research teams.
1- Think about technology transfer from the very beginning
The development of an innovation does not begin when a technology is already mature, but much earlier. The starting point is often a promising experimental result obtained in the laboratory. From that moment, it is important to start considering the potential path of the discovery and the steps required for it to eventually reach patients.
Incorporating this perspective from the earliest stages of research helps identify development opportunities, adequately protect results and prepare projects for future collaborations.
2- Innovation is a team effort
No project succeeds solely thanks to the research team. Throughout the process, professionals with very different profiles become involved: technology transfer specialists, intellectual property experts, industry partners, investors, hospitals and public institutions. Coordinating all these stakeholders is essential for a technology to keep moving forward.
In this regard, IDIBELL’s Innovation Office supports research groups throughout every stage of the process, facilitating the connections needed for scientific results to evolve into real-world applications. European initiatives such as XarSMART reinforce this mission by providing tools, collaborations and opportunities to accelerate technology transfer.
3- Securing funding is an ongoing task
One of the main challenges of any innovative project is financing. In the early stages, projects rely primarily on public funding, while private investment usually arrives once the technology has reached a higher level of maturity. This means that fundraising is not a one-off task, but a continuous activity throughout the life cycle of a project.
Understanding funding opportunities, building partnerships and adapting strategies to each stage of development are factors that can make a significant difference.
As an example of these new forms of collaboration, XarSMART promotes the VTSO-XarSMART Health Innovation Awards, an initiative that has already allocated more than €100,000 to support health research projects developed in public institutions across Catalonia. The programme also helps connect researchers with stakeholders from other sectors. The 2026 call is currently open.
4- Knowing when to stop is also a part of innovation
Not every research project will eventually become a company, a patent, or a healthcare product. And this does not necessarily mean it has failed.
Research is, by definition, a process of uncertainty. Many promising projects are halted because scientific evidence shows their results are not robust enough, or because the technology does not meet initial expectations.
The goal is for decisions to be based on scientific evidence, not on a lack of support, advice, or opportunities to validate the technology’s potential.
5- Building a culture of innovation
Beyond supporting individual projects, one of the biggest challenges is to fostering a strong culture of innovation within research centres. This means encouraging researchers and trainees to incorporate knowledge transfer as a natural part of the research process: protecting results, identifying clinical needs, establishing collaborations and exploring ways for laboratory-generated knowledge to reach society.
This vision is particularly relevant at IDIBELL, where the close connection between basic research, clinical research and hospitals creates an ideal ecosystem for healthcare innovation. This ecosystem is expected to be further strengthened by private-sector participation through the future GreenVia Biomedical Accelerator promoted in partnership with FONAVI.
The results of this work often take years to materialize. The full development of a biomedical technology can take more than a decade and, once validated, it must still be adopted by the healthcare system. Even so, the first indicators are encouraging: in its first three years, XarSMART has helped create four companies based on technologies developed in public institutions, including digital solutions for stroke care and new advances in regenerative medicine, neurology and inflammatory diseases: Myosafe; Irónicamente; Ardea Biotech and AIMS Medical.
The final message is clear: for a good idea to end up transforming patients’ lives, excellent science alone is not enough. Innovation strategies must be incorporated from the outset, partnerships must be built and the right support structures must be in place to navigate a long but essential path that turns laboratory discoveries into tangible benefits for society.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a research centre created in 2004 and specialising in cancer, neuroscience, translational medicine and regenerative medicine. It has a team of more than 1,500 professionals who, from 73 research groups, publish more than 1,400 scientific articles per year. IDIBELL has the support of the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecanos Hospital of the Catallán Health Institute, the Catallán Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the HUBc of the University of Barcelona and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centres accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the European Union’s Excellence in HR Research programme and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Centre of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).