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Delsia: An Innovative Funding Vehicle That Is Turning Science and Technology into Reality for the Autism Community
The autism community is faced with a staggering array of unmet medical and behavioral healthcare needs. Research alone will not answer the urgent call for improved healthcare and quality of life coming from individuals, parents and family members living with autism. It is essential that scientific and technological research advances are translated into innovative and accessible products that can transform lives.
A translational “valley of death” is readily apparent along the continuum from autism research to product commercialization. The system for capitalizing new product development, where risk and need are the greatest, is broken. Government funding agencies and academia are not in the business of bridging this gap, and financial return may be too small or speculative for traditional venture investors. Innovative funding models that involve mission-driven nonprofit partners are necessary to expand the impact of basic research.
Objectives:
Our objective is to bridge the “valley of death” with a new, innovative funding mechanism, Delivering Scientific Innovation for Autism LLC (DELSIA). The mission for DELSIA is to transform lives by accelerating the development and commercialization of innovative products that promise to improve healthcare and quality of life for people with autism.
Methods:
DELSIA partners with entrepreneurs, start-ups and small and large companies in biomedical, life sciences, software and electronic technology and services sectors. We aim to efficiently apply our capital and to engage our community and unparalleled network of autism advocacy, research and services experts to deliver the most impactful results.
Results:
DELSIA has given financial awards to businesses and entrepreneurs in biomedical and software technology sectors, and is actively seeking new investment opportunities that span our scope of interest.
Conclusions:
Novel funding models involving nonprofit venture philanthropic enterprises are necessary to repair the broken links between early research and late-stage product development. DELSIA was created to meet this need through partnering with entrepreneurs and companies that are developing products and services for the improvement of healthcare and quality of life for the autism community.