“Selling out to corporate culture is still mocked by many academics”.

Illustration: Stefan Vecsey

As an early career researcher, I bought into the rote academic path –  publish feverishly until snagging a tenure-track position ... or perish – fearing that a move to industry was equivalent to selling out. I saw companies as profit-obsessed bureaucracies that stifle curiosity. How wrong I was! At a careers fair, I discovered innovative firms that were partners in developing pivotal solutions: a medtech detailed their cancer immunotherapy project, an energy company shared renewable tech to combat climate change. I realised that they pursued noble missions marshalling top minds.

After my postdoc, I joined a biotech start-up and was empowered to pursue audacious initiatives and manage projects that directly improved lives and patient care through tangible products, not just papers published in niche journals. I touched on multiple domains: R&D, product design, market analysis and customer engagement. Wearing such varied hats opened my eyes to novel perspectives on challenges and their potential solutions.

Far from compromising my integrity, I leveraged my PhD skills on a daily basis. My firm prized the fusion of intellectual hustle and business instincts. I still consulted with university colleagues, aligning the R&D roadmap in a mutually beneficial way. Many academics still mock the idea of “selling out” to corporate culture or see the transition as marking a failure. I see now how those qualms evaporate once one begins innovating at the vanguard of tangible progress for people.

I found no adversarial relationship but rather a fertile middle ground where academia and industry engage in mutual partnership. Without it, each realm is left isolated: academics are trapped in theoretical silos, and corporations lack access to emerging insights to transform into innovations. By embracing the strengths of both environments, we can achieve maximum impact. So we shouldn’t fear leaping, like I did, or embracing the new horizons that await our talents. One may discover invigorating freedom in exploring the private sector while upholding purpose and integrity. One may even boomerang back to one’s alma mater – but turbocharged with vital real-world insights.