Stance scaffolding and the recognition of commercialisation opportunities in the life science industry

Abstract

The challenge of the commercialisation of science from the ‘laboratory environment’ into the ‘field environment’ is a longstanding one. This paper explores the way that this challenge is rooted in the epistemic stance of institutional members working in the life science industry. Drawing upon their lived experiences, this study contributes both conceptually and analytically towards an in-depth understanding of the micro-foundations of the recognition of opportunities to commercialise science. We unravel two unique epistemic stance perspectives from members' experiences – a science stance and a market stance –that members enact in the recognition of opportunities for science commercialisation. We uncover that members may not have to shift from a science stance to a market stance, but critically, iterate between the scaffolding mechanisms of aligning, exchanging, and integrating in order to address the challenge of bridging science and market stances in the commercialisation of scientific opportunities.