The Intersect Insight team has experience planning, building and operating science and technology infrastructure ranging from entire institutions (e.g., the International Chornobyl Center in Slavutych, Ukaine) to specific organizational units focused on sustaining the larger institution (e.g., technology commercialization offices, business development units, etc.). In each instance, our approach has been to identify best practices drawn from both indigenous host country and international sources, adapt and align those practices with the strategic goals of the enterprise, and to embed those practices into effective operational policies and procedures.
A wide menu of sustaining best practices exist in such areas as funding development, financial management, operational excellence, staff development, and strategic partnering. Organizational sustainability often is viewed primarily as effective staff training, but in reality key practices to sustain the enterprise should be in place throughout all main activities, and the breadth of experience and capability of the intersect Insight team underpins this systems approach.
Our team is also continually monitoring major developments in enterprise sustainability, such as the pharmaceutical industry shift from sole reliance on closely guarded in-house intellectual property creation to adding “open innovation” systems, or the UK’s creation of “catapult centers” for highly targeted commercial R&D, and we are especially interested in adapting these new approaches where they may address other international needs.