New technologies take time to deliver

It pays for a company to consider using alternative technologies as a stepping stone while it continues to develop innovative new technologies, a European technology executive told a conference in Melbourne this week.

Paul Jacobs is group manager for technology integration at Belgian company Innogenetics. He is in Melbourne for the Healthy Opportunities from Small Technologies conference this week.

"It takes 10-15 years for new technologies to become viable -- for us this was too long a time," he said. "So we look for technologies which give us improvements that we are looking for but which are closer to the market. For the next three to five years, it's clear that the steps we have made are challenging enough."

Innogenetics specialty diagnostics division has developed a number of multi-parameter molecular diagnostics utilising immunoassay and genotyping technology, for detection and classification of infectious diseases, as well as for tissue typing and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.

Jacobs said it was crucial to stay involved in the development of new innovations offered by the advent of micro- and nanotechnology. At Innogenetics, he said, new biosensor technology had been investigated, but currently the company was using fluorescent detection for its assays.

"We have seen that it will take a few years to bring [biosensor technology] to a mature state," he said. "It's important to work on cutting edge technologies but we have to make choices balanced with product development."

Choices also need to be supported at the company level, he said, with all departments and management on board.

As for requirements to make a new technology viable, Jacobs said it needs to be reliable, cost effective and should bring real benefits, in addition to being flexible.

This is something difficult to define. People shouldn't forget the strength of a simple microtitre plate that can be used for many things," Jacobs said. "The customer in the end is not interested in the technology if it does not bring real benefits in cost, sensitivity, specificity or ease of use."