Simultaneous Discovery–Invention in Corporate R&D: Lessons from the CRISPR Case

Abstract

Some companies invest in fundamental research, but many struggle when developing novel in‐house scientific knowledge and integrating it into their new inventions. While the literature advocates revised approaches to better understand this phenomenon, we investigate the processes that lead to Simultaneous Discovery–Invention (SDI). By adopting an abductive process, we propose a model that highlights the mechanisms of SDI. Notably, we reveal that teams must preserve independence in creative exploration during scientific knowledge creation and invention generation while maintaining intensive original knowledge exchange among them. We also demonstrate that anomaly detection and peer validation mechanisms are mandatory for SDI. We evaluate our model with a case study in the food industry: the discovery that CRISPR–Cas9 is an adaptative defense immune system of bacteria and the associated innovations in this industry. Finally, we discuss the insights provided by our model and the implications of our case study.