Title:

Mapping the Worldwide Research, Innovation, and Diffusion Activity of CRISPR

Abstract:

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), a breakthrough technology that can modify or screen DNA or RNA in almost any organism, has profoundly influenced innovation in a range of applications.  To illustrate the importance of CRISPR, the 2020 Nobel Prize winning technology, this project provides four new databases that capture the population of available information on CRISPR academic articles, patent families, companies, and clinical trials geographically, temporally, and across application areas.  The data highlight the explosion of innovative CRISPR activities since its introduction in 2012 and show the relative dominance of the US and China.  Further, many countries participate in the CRISPR ecosystem, but they appear to focus on different niche areas consistent with their existing academic, business, and cultural environments at the time CRISPR was introduced.  The results suggest that countries looking to participate more actively in CRISPR innovation should not necessarily try to replicate the success of Kendall Square in CRISPR medical developments, especially if an entrepreneurial culture must be encouraged first.  Instead, such countries can leverage their existing resources and established organizations to find successful niche strategies.  For example, Germany is well positioned to create quality solutions for the biggest challenges with CRISPR tools (e.g., delivery mechanisms).  As such, Germany may not need to directly encourage new ventures, but could help their current established pharma and biotech companies leverage their experience in finding and supporting new technologies from others or further developing these capabilities in-house.

Speaker Bio: 

Samantha Zyontz is a Fellow at the Center for Law and the Biosciences and a Research Fellow of Intellectual Property at Stanford Law School.  Her research focuses on intellectual property strategy and the influence of institutions on innovation, with an emphasis on the diffusion of CRISPR DNA-editing tools.  Dr. Zyontz has also conducted several policy focused, large-scale empirical law and economics projects with the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation in Germany (EFI), the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School for the US Economic Development Administration, and the Searle Center on Law, Regulation, and Economic Growth at Northwestern University School of Law. Dr. Zyontz received her Ph.D. and S.M. in Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a M.S. in Managerial Economics and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College of William & Mary with a B.A. in economics.