Lab to Planet is a Science Card initiative aimed at bringing university climate science research into the world around us, to maximise both its impact and its economic benefit.
In launching Lab to Planet, Science Card aims to not only fund climate science research projects at universities, but also provide a platform for integrating the research output into the everyday lives of consumers. Whether by introducing a novel means of processing natural fibres to a high street fashion brand, or by helping to introduce a new sustainable energy resource into the energy market, our aim is to ensure that the positive environmental impact produced by university research is as widely adopted as possible.
The overarching goal of Lab to Planet is to drive real gains in the sustainability of UK businesses, and to champion the work of researchers whose solutions are both practical and profitable.
We are building a network of companies and researchers focused around the same goal: a more sustainable future. We will be introducing companies across a breadth of industries — including those that don’t traditionally engage with university technology transfer teams — to cutting-edge university research that can be directly implemented into their products, services, and business practices.
Leigh Golding, Science Card’s Intellectual Property and Commercialisation Manager, explains her personal motivations for designing and launching the Lab to Planet initiative:
“I began my career in technology transfer 13 years ago and during that time I noticed an overwhelming discrepancy between the limited commercial adoption of technologies arising from disciplines with applications outside of healthcare, as compared to the much better established pipeline of adoption of life science technology by pharmaceutical companies.
Why are biotech and pharmaceutical companies more eager to engage in the technology transfer process? It’s straightforward economics. Drug development in collaboration with university life science research teams is an expensive and regulatorily complex process, however pharmaceutical companies do not shy away from the expense or the complexities, for the simple reason that university research is incredibly valuable.
Here at Science Card we work with leading UK universities and research institutions to source projects which will lead us to a more sustainable future — in healthcare and climate science alike. The depth of our involvement with universities and their technology transfer teams has led us to explore how we could facilitate for climate science the kind of model followed by biotech companies and pharma mainstays, who actively take the opportunities arising from life science research at universities and translate them into life-saving healthcare measures and economic benefit.
And so, we have set out to learn from this strategy and deliver it in a way that brings university climate science research into the marketplace, from lab to planet.
The UK is home to a vast number of market-leading companies with global operations, and who are setting and striving to meet ESG goals. I also know from my years in and around technology transfer that the UK boasts some of the best universities in the world, with some of the brightest and best minds researching and discovering innovative ways to address those very same ESG objectives.
From the desire to connect these dots, Lab to Planet was born.”
By partnering with Science Card, companies can gain access to the supercharged network of universities and research institutions that we have been building since our inception. In joining Lab to Planet our partners will have unique exposure to the very real innovations that arise from our funding, and be in a position to apply them to their operations — for the future of our planet.
For more information on how your organisation can be a part of Lab to Planet contact Leigh Golding.
