Valley Of Death Research Articles

Oases in the valley of death

Government programmes such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) are designed to help cleantech companies overcome startup challenges and bring innovations to market. New analysis shows that support from ARPA-E has led to higher patenting rates but success in winning follow-up funding remains unclear.

Syn‐rift mass flow generated ‘tectonofacies’ and ‘tectonosequences’ of the Kingston Peak Formation, Death Valley, California, and their bearing on supposed Neoproterozoic panglacial climates

AbstractThe Kingston Peak Formation of the Pahrump Group in the Death Valley region of the Basin and Range Province, USA, is the thick (over 3 km) mixed siliciclastic–carbonate fill of a long‐lived structurally‐complex Neoproterozoic rift basin and is recognized by some as a key ‘climatostratigraphic’ succession recording panglacial Snowball Earth events. A facies analysis of the Kingston Peak Formation shows it to be largely composed of ‘tectonofacies’ which are subaqueous mass flow deposits recording cannibalization of older Pahrump carbonate strata exposed by local faulting. Facies include siltstone, sandstone and conglomerate turbidites, carbonate megabreccias (olistoliths) and related breccias, and interbedded debrites. Secondary facies are thin carbonates and pillowed basalts. Four distinct associations of tectonofacies (‘base‐of‐scarp’; FA1, ‘mid‐slope’; FA2, ‘base‐of‐slope’; FA3, and a ‘carbonate margin’ association; FA4) reflect the initiation and progradation of deep water clastic wedges at the foot of fault scarps. ‘Tectonosequences’ record episodes of fault reactivation resulting in substantial increases in accommodation space and water depths, the collapse of fault scarps and consequent downslope mass flow events. Carbonates of FA4 record the cessation of tectonic activity and resulting sediment starvation ending the growth of clastic wedges. Tectonosequences are nested within regionally‐extensive tectono‐stratigraphic units of earlier workers that are hundreds to thousands of metres in thickness, recording the long‐term evolution of the rifted Laurentian continental margin during the protracted breakup of Rodinia. Debrite facies of the Kingston Peak Formation are classically described as ice‐contact glacial deposits recording globally‐correlative panglacials but they result from partial to complete subaqueous mixing of fault‐generated coarse‐grained debris and fine‐grained distal sediment on a slope conditioned by tectonic activity. The sedimentology (tectonofacies) and stratigraphy (tectonosequences) of the Kingston Peak Formation reflect a fundamental control on local sedimentation in the basin by faulting and likely earthquake activity, not by any global glacial climate.

Powering Swiss health care for the future: implementation science to bridge "the valley of death".

A 2019 Swiss Academy of Medical Science bulletin addressed the challenge of translational research: the enormous rift between basic scientific discoveries and their use in clinical therapies. The report termed this distance “the valley of death”. Strategies to apply implementation science methods to Swiss health research offer an excellent return on investment. Designing studies specifically to overcome translation barriers promises to remove years from the current research process.

Patenting and business outcomes for cleantech startups funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

Innovation to reduce the cost of clean technologies has large environmental and societal benefits. Governments can play an important role in helping cleantech startups innovate and overcome risks involved in technology development. Here we examine the impact of the US Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) on two outcomes for startup companies: innovation (measured by patenting activity) and business success (measured by venture capital funding raised, survival, and acquisition or initial public offering). We compare 25 startups funded by ARPA-E in 2010 to rejected ARPA-E applicants, startups funded by a related government programme and other comparable cleantech startups. We find that ARPA-E awardees have a strong innovation advantage over all the comparison groups. However, while we find that ARPA-E awardees performed better than rejected applicants in terms of post-award business success, we do not detect significant differences compared to other cleantech startups. These findings suggest that ARPA-E was not able to fully address the ‘valley of death’ for cleantech startups within 10–15 yr after founding.

Startups supported by ARPA-E were more innovative than others but an investment gap may remain

Startups funded by the US Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy filed patents at twice the rate of similar cleantech firms. The high-risk high-reward funding model has succeeded in advancing energy technology, but more is needed to help these innovative firms cross the valley of death and bring new cleantech products to market.

Development of multi-use platforms at sea: Barriers to realising Blue Growth

The recent H2020 Blue Growth projects MARIBE and MUSES investigated the potential of a variety of different combinations of economic activities in co-location or integrated in multi-use platforms. Both projects identified barriers - including regulatory, financing, liability and insurance issues; environmental concerns; stakeholder perceptions; and lack of appropriate skills – that hamper the development of multi-use platforms. The H2020 MARIBE project concluded that further funding for multi-use demonstrations should be provided to increase investor confidence and bring multi-use through the so-called Valley of Death. The H2020 MUSES project concluded that multi-use needs to be proactively facilitated and incentivised through public regulatory bodies and respective support programmes. This paper combines and analyses results from both projects in order to identify key research gaps and actions required for the continued development of multi-use platforms, based on a structured critical review of available peer-reviewed literature on the topic as well as reports of both the MUSES and MARIBE projects. Research gaps and actions are analysed based on a multi-use platform typology to inform developers, policy makers, academia and investors for future development of multi-use at sea.

Abstract 4394: Utilizing pharmacokinetics and toxicity data in the translational drug interaction knowledgebase to bridge the phase I cancer drug combination studies

Abstract Multi-target drug combinations have become essential in overcoming de novo and acquired resistance to cancer therapy. However, pharmacokinetics (PK) and toxicity profiles are the largest valley of death for the combinatory drug therapy development. Although there is rich knowledge in the public domain data sources, it is not yet well integrated or readily available to investigators planning novel clinical trial designs. Incorporating the multitude of datasets available for each drug and drug target would allow for more rationale selection of dose levels and schedules in cancer clinical trial development. In this study, we conducted a feasibility study to demonstrate the utility of an integrated drug interaction knowledge base in the designing cancer drug combination phase 1 clinical trials. Methods: Phase 1 or 1b cancer trials reported in ClincalTrials.gov during 1/1/2018-12/31/2018 were used for target trial selection. The multiple interventions in the study were limited to small molecule cancer drugs and monoclonal antibodies. All the identified drugs/chemicals were normalized via DrugBank. Then, our TDIK(Translational Drug Interaction Knowledgebase) was used to assess whether it has sufficient data to infer drug combination PK or toxicity. The TDIK database has integrated PK and toxicity data from more than 1 million DDI evidence in DrugBank, 69,579 articles indexed in the PubMed, drug labels and our Cancer Drug Fraction of Metabolism Database. Results: 423 cancer drug combination phase I/Ib clinical trials were selected as target trials, in which 496 drug combinations were tested, and they include 487 distinct individual drugs. Among those 487 individual drugs, 221 have PK or toxicity data in TDIK. Among 496 drug combinations, 325 combinations have at least PK drug interaction or drug combination toxicity data. Conclusions: TDIK contains a significant amount of PK and toxicity data on cancer drugs and their combinations. It is a powerful tool in designing drug combination phase I trials. Summary of PK and toxicity knowledge identified by TDIKKnowledge Type# of knowledge found in TDIKCommentsIndividual DrugMetabolism or Transport Pathway84Major pathway, the fractions by each pathway, and inhibition capacityMTD (Maximum tolerated dose)154Other PK parameters (Clearance, maximum concentration, half-life time, etc.14This information is for the drugs that are currently in the study or clinical trial phase.Toxicity information (Adverse drug reactions) in phase 1 or 1b trials19This information is for the drugs that are currently in the study or clinical trial phase.Drug CombinationPK or Pharmacodynamics DDI evidence408Toxicity information(Adverse drug reactions) in drug combination trials247All the information is from phase 1 or 1b clinical trials. Citation Format: Lei Wang, Shijun Zhang, Lai Wei, Dwight H. Owen, Lang Li. Utilizing pharmacokinetics and toxicity data in the translational drug interaction knowledgebase to bridge the phase I cancer drug combination studies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4394.

Does knowledge translation drive spin-offs away from the “valley of death”? A nonparametric analysis to support a banking perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically test if the interaction between universities and spin-offs, as proxy of knowledge translation (KT), which is based in particular on negotiation, semantics and pragmatics, has a positive impact on spin-off performance – in terms of greater distance from the “valley of death” – and allows access to credit and financial instruments.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt an appropriate nonparametric conditional efficiency approach for panel data. The authors provide a unique picture of the innovation environment in Italy using an original dataset. These data provide information regarding the intensity of interaction between universities and spin-offs along with financial balance datasheet of the spin-offs. The nonparametric approach is particularly suitable for nonlinear relationships typical for this type of data.FindingsThe results of the analysis confirm that the translation of knowledge, based on negotiation of interests, semantics of the text and pragmatism, favored by the interaction between universities and spin-offs, improves the productivity performance of the spin-off by allowing them to move away from the “valley of death”. Therefore, universities must pay particular attention to the way they work with spin-offs by making use of the translation of knowledge, based on semantics and pragmatism, in order to encourage an understanding of knowledge, sharing of interests among the partners and stakeholders of the spin-off, often belonging to different backgrounds. These are processes that favor the transfer and development of research outcomes to the market, improving the spin-off competitiveness of the territory and strengthening relations with universities and their stakeholders (banks and financial intermediaries, local and national politicians, institutions and the community at large).Research limitations/implicationsImplications for research can be identified at policy and managerial level and refer to the effectiveness of the so called “Third Mission”, university entrepreneurship through the creation of profitable spin-offs which contribute to innovation, and to the socioeconomic development of the territory. In turn, spin-offs with good performances are more likely to have access to external financing to allow the growth of their business in the market. Further studies can investigate the organizational way of the universities that promote these virtuous results, distinguishing them by spin-off efficiency clusters.Practical implicationsFor universities, the results make it possible to envisage organizational processes to support spin-offs that are important both for compliance with the regulations and for the Third Mission. Researchers, teachers and PhD academics have the opportunity to exploit the results of their innovative research on the market. Spin-offs and start-up founders should note that the results of scientific transfer can create value for the firm and the territory. Useful information also derives for banks and financial intermediaries that intend to improve the credit risk assessment of the spin-offs during the loan assessment phase.Originality/valueThe value of the work entails in offering a unique overview of university innovation, through an original dataset and a robust methodology. By adopting a different approach, the contribution of KT at national level was assessed, measuring the impact on the technical performance and on the probability of survival of the companies. Originality of the paper lies not only in the approach but also in the fact that this is the first attempt to use the KT as a key factor for the economic sustainability from a financial perspective of start-up companies.

Crossing the valley of death: Five underlying innovation processes

The aim of this paper is to elucidate the innovation processes of technology development across the Valley of Death. Hitherto, studies of the innovation process for this difficult early phase in technology development have implied a linear progression or have privileged the contribution of intermediaries channelling government-funded support. By making use of process theories, and pursing a novel action research methodology with all innovation actors involved in the Valley of Death transition, then a wider processual perspective is realised. This paper adopts a realist evaluation approach in order to integrate the findings from six different technology development projects. By these means, we suggest that crossing the Valley of Death implies the successful completion of five distinct innovation processes. We construct a conceptual framework constituted of the five innovation processes, and argue there is more than one pathway for crossing the Valley of Death. Finally, we offer practical implications for innovation management at this phase of technology development.

Nurturing entrepreneurs: How do technology transfer professionals bridge the Valley of Death in Japan?

The study aims to clarify the behavioral patterns of technology transfer professionals (TTPs) required in university technology commercialization. In the past, TTPs simply transferred technology using functional skills and experience gained in specific science/business fields; however, now they are often required to be entrepreneurial in the process, as mentioned in the literature and manuals on the TTP's job. However, we know little about what type of behavioral patterns of entrepreneurship are required for TTPs. Through our explorative case studies of veteran TTPs in Japan, we found concrete behavioral patterns within the theoretical framework of effectuation. TTPs start with the means they can use, try to set temporary goals under high uncertainty, raise technological value using affordable resources, and get stakeholders' involvement. In performing these activities, they take control of emerging situations and iterate several trial-and-error processes to deal with contingencies to accomplish their technology transfer projects. We found that entrepreneurial universities require TTPs who possess not only functional skills but also an understanding of how TTPs act to bridge the Valley of Death.

Understanding and Managing the Biotechnology Valley of Death

Biotechnology has a Valley of Death challenge. Arrhenius's model is used to consider this journey by visualizing the factors critical to identifying appropriate business models. Examples illustrate this interplay and the routes to industrial readiness. The insights provided are useful to research and development managers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and biotechnologists.

How can university technology holding companies bridge the Valley of Death? Evidence from Korea

This paper addresses how a technology holding company (THC) affects university inventions crossing the Valley of Death (VoD). A THC, which is a new incubation model, is a specialised organisation for establishing spin-offs as subsidiaries and commercialising university inventions. This study verifies the effects of THCs on the incubation productivity of universities by conducting a propensity-score matching and two-stage data envelopment analysis. The results show that, in the university group with high entrepreneurial orientation, universities with a THC are less productive in the invention stage but more productive in the commercialisation stage than universities without a THC. This demonstrates that THCs decrease productivity in the invention stage by playing the role of a gatekeeper but, in the commercialisation stage, increase productivity by playing the role of a sponsor. In addition, this study finds that the effects of a THC are more significant in universities with high entrepreneurial orientation than in universities with low entrepreneurial orientation. This paper shows that a THC positively affects university spin-offs crossing the VoD by playing different roles in the invention and commercialisation stages.

The role of complexity in the Valley of Death and radical innovation performance

Firms invest much of their capital into basic research in order to generate new ideas and technologies. However, converting new technology concepts into marketable products is difficult, and firms struggle with transitioning projects from a knowledge discovery to product development, a gap referred to as the Valley of Death (VoD). While the concept of VoD has been well documented, the literature provides little guidance on how this gap can be overcome within firms and what role broader organizational factors play in this process. Building on the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) framework, the authors propose and test a series of hypotheses using a survey of 308 managers. The results indicate that while organizational complexity does not directly impact a firm's application ability (the ability to overcome the VoD), product complexity has a positive effect. In addition, both organizational and product complexity interact with market turbulence in influencing a firm's application ability, and there is an inverted-U shape relationship between application ability and radical innovation performance.

Terms of Endearment: Financing Terms for Deep Technology Startups on a Crowdfunding Platform

Public science firms generate positive outcomes, but transitions for their private startup counterparts across the so-called ``Valley of Death'' remain challenging. Like other new ventures, they use modern tools to raise capital, such as crowdfunding and simplified convertible debt instruments, but these strategies have been poorly studied for the economically important niche of early-stage science firms. New data from a ``deep technology'' equity crowdfunding (EC) platform show that those investors make different decisions than their offline counterparts. Debt and a related instrument, the Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE), are used successfully in both channels as early-stage vehicles, but selection and funding outcomes differ. Relative to life sciences and data sciences, engineering or hardware firms experience a significant penalty if they elect to offer convertible debt instruments. Equity crowdfunding investors strongly prefer the SAFE to a traditional debt instrument, but are relatively insensitive to the specific terms. These findings impact the understanding of entrepreneurial finance and the policy associated with science-based ventures.

The role of regulators in mitigating uncertainty within the Valley of Death

The essential cause of the ‘Valley of Death’ (VoD) is the reluctance of the private sector to invest in technologies which are perceived as immature. However, uncertainty about whether a new product or technology complies with regulatory frameworks may also have an important effect on private sector investments. We use the cases of the Critical Path Initiative, in the pharmaceutical industry, and the Advanced General Aviation Transportation Experiments, in the general aviation industry, to analyze the role of regulatory agencies in decreasing three different types of regulatory uncertainty along the VoD. We find that regulatory agencies play an important role as a social glue which helps coordinate industry-wide efforts. Based on the comparison between the two cases, we create theory to explain the effect of regulatory uncertainty on the shape of the VoD. Our theoretical framework may help agencies detect the major sources of regulatory uncertainty, and adapt their policies accordingly to facilitate the traverse of emerging technologies across the VoD.

Moving drug discoveries beyond the valley of death: the role of innovation ecosystems

PurposeThe paper aims to explore the nature of initiatives and strategies of inter-organizational cooperation to cross the valley of death in the biopharma industry.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an exploratory case study analysis in the Biopharma Innovation Ecosystem in Greater Boston Area (USA), which is one of the oldest, and most successful IE in the US, specialized in the Biopharma domain, by conducting a round of expert interviews with key informants in the area, chosen as representatives of the different types of actors engaged in the drug development processes at different stages.FindingsMain findings suggest that cooperation can contribute to surviving the valley of death by reducing the barriers within the drug development pipeline through the promotion of strategic relationships among actors of different nature, including the establishment of government-led thematic associations or consortia, agreements between university and business support structures, proximity to venture capitalist and the promotion of a general culture of academic entrepreneurship within universities.Originality/valueThe authors believe that this paper contributes to the literature by shedding light on the nature of the specific cooperative initiative the barriers in drug development and help to survive the valley of the death.

Avoiding the valley of death in educating strategists

Billions of dollars and hundreds of millions of hours are invested every year in executive education. However, much of this investment dies in a familiar “Valley of Death” (VoD) wherein what is learned in the classroom is not applied when the strategist returns back to work. Based on 30 in-depth interviews and live observation, we investigate the architecture of an executive education program designed to avoid the VoD. In the observed program, senior partners of a strategy consulting firm, and their key strategist clients, are brought together to co-learn strategy associated with scenario planning, and, at the same time, improve their ongoing business relations. We find that adopting a “paired learning structure” and utilizing “live case content” results in “group-level co-learning” (or the co-production of knowledge) that, participants report, avoids the VoD. This research contributes to the scholarship on learning architecture in executive education by establishing linkages to the literature on client-partner relationships, modelling the student, and service co-production in knowledge-intensive organizations, and, in the end, provides a blueprint that professional service firms and business schools, seeking to produce more value for their participants, can jointly emulate.

Sustaining trust to cross the Valley of Death: A retrospective study of business angels’ investment and reinvestment decisions

This paper explores and explains how, why and with what consequences business angels' trust in the entrepreneur affects their decisions to invest, reinvest or withdraw funding in the Valley of Death (VoD). Drawing on the VoD literature and on business angel research, we retrospectively study two contrastive cases of success and failure of French start-ups operating in the IT sector over a period of two and nine years, respectively, by taking the dyadic relationship between business angels and entrepreneurs as unit of analysis. We document the business angels' trust evolution over time and we show how trust shifts facilitate or damage the entrepreneurs' journey through the VoD. We offer a process-model of sustaining business angels’ trust in entrepreneur-business angel relationships to cross the VoD, thus addressing recent calls for more in-depth examinations of social aspects in investment and post-investment business angel research.

Some Emerging Hypotheses on the Economic Opportunities and Challenges of the Post-Pandemic World

The next few years can be described as a Valley of Death (both literally in terms of human lives lost, but also metaphorically for the number of organizations that will disappear). Policymakers and private sector leaders (e.g., executives, venture capitalists (VCs), Angel Investors, etc.) must navigate this Valley of Death, even while preparing for the New Normal. Economically strong institutions will become stronger (at least relative to their peers); the weak will be taken over or go bankrupt. So, what will the world look like on the other side of the Valley of Death Recession, when the pandemic has passed? Expect increased industry concentration, with fewer competitors in various markets. Several existing trends (e.g., e-commerce, automation, Telehealth, Work from Home (WfH) arrangements and technology, etc.) are already experiencing accelerated adoption rates. Even after the pandemic passes, we won’t see a return to old consumption patterns in many of these areas. For startups, this will be the worst of times (e.g., getting a team together in a recession and pandemic), and potentially the best of times (e.g., disruption on this scale equals opportunity). This isn’t just a story of accelerating existing trends – also expect some discontinuities (for example, in globalization and air travel). Globalization will slow, and potentially even reverse. Airlines and long-distance travel could take quite a long time to return to 2019 levels. Leisure and Hospitality will be very sluggish across the Valley of Death, but will rebound quickly when the pandemic passes. The ‘decline and/or death of cities’ arguments are overstated and often ignore facts, academic research and common sense, but urban real estate markets will change. Inequality (both racial and socio-economic) will increase, and in the short run, this will be difficult to mitigate. The Valley of Death Recession has dramatically lowered our carbon footprint – hopefully, we’ll retain some of these gains. The role of government in our lives (by the end of this pandemic) will be much larger, and it’s unlikely to shrink quickly to pre-pandemic size. Inflation will remain under control; actually, deflation in some sectors might be the challenge. Finally, keep in mind, this essay isn’t intended to be exhaustive, but I hope to stimulate a serious conversation about what the New Normal will look like.

The research–practice gap in the field of HRM: a qualitative study from the academic side of the gap

In recent studies, researchers agree that there is a substantial gap between research and practice in the field of human resource management (HRM). The literature exploring the causes and consequences of this gap does not represent a finely structured discourse; it has focused on analysing the gap from the practitioner side, and it is based on opinions and theoretical discussions rather than on empirical evidence. In this paper, we try to shed some light on this so-called “valley of death”. We attempt to identify the causes underlying the disconnect between academics and professionals in our field by drawing on empirical qualitative evidence obtained from interviews with 15 expert academics in the field of HRM. Thus, the approach presented in our work differs from that of the prior literature in that it is focused not on the opinions of individual authors but on the personal experiences of a larger expert sample composed of independent, experienced scholars in the area. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, we analyse the factors explaining why academics are not always willing to focus their research on professional needs or orientate their research outputs to the practitioner community.