The Knowledge Gap That No One Talks About
- Jenna Rector
- Mar 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 15
The digital age has brought a sudden awareness to the gap between research and industry. Companies want to streamline the process from design to deployment, optimizing scale-up conditions starting from fundamental theory, and enlisting “cross-functional” teams to find solutions at every possible angle. The shift to an interdisciplinary approach in industry is on the rise – and it’s important. But there is a missing piece no one seems to be talking about.
Research and development can only extend as far as policy will allow it, regardless of how well you scale, optimize, and shave costs. This realization has taught me that the greatest way to make an impact is by addressing this underrepresented, yet crucial, gap between science and policy. Once I realized this, everything clicked. I finally understood why I felt “stuck” in the lab during my PhD research, and why nothing in the job market felt right for me. I wanted to strive for something that made a direct impact, not in terms of reducing costs or streamlining manufacturing, but something that offered a viable solution to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Some may call this unrealistic but my “naïve” dream of changing the world is what drew me to science in the first place. I remember presenting projects on trifolds and foam boards, poking myself with safety pins making crude, homemade buttons advocating for clean oceans, and promoting recycling and composting around the community. So why is it that when we “grow up” and develop the knowledge and skills to actually make a difference, we lose our passion for humanity and the world? Maybe we become cynical, maybe our judgement becomes clouded by external voices and pressures, or maybe we try our best but still fall short. My optimism promotes the latter. So, what can we do about it?
Like any good scientist, I began asking questions:
· What is the reason for the gap?
· How can we close it and what impact will that have?
· Why isn’t it talked about more?
· Why is it that top-tier universities are conducting groundbreaking research, yet it never leaves the lab?
According to my findings, the issue isn’t always scalability. Most of the time, it’s funding. Policy shapes research in industry by funding the projects that it supports. Consider an example. For decades, messenger RNA (mRNA) had been considered for use in vaccines. In fact, mRNA vaccines were first designed in 1987 by Robert Malone, who proposed the employment of lipid nanoparticles as a delivery system. The idea was that the mRNA would be encapsulated in droplets of fat protect it from degradation before it reached the target. Interested parties can read more about the history of mRNA vaccines here.
Despite its design decades prior, it wasn’t until 2020 that the technology behind mRNA vaccines became revolutionary. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a high demand for vaccines, which not only increased funding for biomedical research, but also sparked global collaboration, allowing for the vaccine to reach clinical trials faster than ever before. This example shows us that the influence of policy can transform scientific research into innovative technologies that change the world.
The purpose here is not to get political, but to evaluate. The more we understand the overlap between research, industry, and policy, the better we can support the meaningful, innovative research that is being published every single day. And it’s all done through communication. The painful truth is that pioneering research will never leave the lab unless the results are presented in a way that is understood outside the scientific lens. If we can use science to solve real-world problems and convey that to the community to raise awareness, that’s where unfeigned change will happen. In the modern world of digital media, I believe there is a shared responsibility between scientists and the public to be aware of how our world is shaped by the entanglement of research and policy.
Sources of Information:
Comments