Even though a start-up works like a research institute and primarily focuses on developing a drug, it differs from a research institution.

The focus on market access – startup

A major difference between a research institution and a start-up is the start-up’s goal of gaining market access. Every start-up once was founded to develop and offer a service, a product or a solution for customers. They usually invest heavily in the development of their product and they never know if they will ever hit the market. They work at a high level of risk. All efforts are aimed at achieving successful market access. As an employer you hardly know, whether your companie will still exist in the next year.

The challenge of research funding – research institute

In contrast to a company a research institution is not focused on the development of a product. The main challenge of a research institute is to gain grants and get fundings. They don’t produce anything you can grab. They don’t have to bring anything to market. The research institute itself is the product and its reputation and research topics drive its budget.

When a research institute is well known then it will be commissioned to conduct research projects. Their problem is to acquire sufficient and suitable research projects.
Once they have got hold of a project, their main task is to generate know-how and to convice the client with their competence to ensure follow-up projects.
They are often heavily dependent on public funding. The need of getting a follow-up project can be a high risk for young scientists. Especially if they have not yet gained a high reputation and are no longer “young scientists”.

Very often the scientists only get a contract of employment for a specific project. With the completion of a project, often the contract of employment of the scientist ends too.

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