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The title kind of misled me. It's about how scientists with a degree in _biotechnology_ (or a related field) can move from academia to the startup world, not ab

The title kind of misled me. It's about how scientists with a degree in _biotechnology_ (or a related field) can move from academia to the startup world, not about scientists in general. For many academic fields there's no equivalent startup tech sector (which is the actual problem for scientists here) since the most important aspect seems to be the ability to become a horse with a horn. This means that before all else, there needs to be a huge potential market. As a scientist working on a very specific topic, I can assure you that my market would be approximately five companies in the whole world. Although every computer and smartphone user could ultimately benefit from advances in my field of research, my customer would not be the end user, but the manufacturers. I assume that this applies to the vast majority of scientists so the picture actually looks quite grim if you want to keep working in your profession. Many scientists need to change to an unrelated or remotely related field in order to get out of academia.

adenadel 11y ago
I think that scientists in industry are usually desirable for their skill set rather than knowledge in their specific field of study. I bet that you would be able to find industry work in your general field, but, as you say, probably not in the specific subfield that you've studied so far (this is obviously somewhat unsatisfying for people who have dedicated years of their lives to studying something). Out of curiosity, what are you working on?
- QuantumRoar 11y ago
  Simulation of CMOS-Transistors by a semi-classical approach. A self-consistent deterministic solver for the Poisson equation, Schrodinger equation and Boltzmann equation including small signal analysis and noise characterization of the device. Basically you want to gauge the crude models of circuit designers. But nanoscale transistors are hard to accurately understand. In particular, there's currently no good way to get predictive small signal parameters and noise characteristics of devices at such a scale. So here I am, doing some of the first decent simulations for transistors at current technology nodes. Definitely not something a startup is looking for :)
  - adenadel 11y ago
    My focus is on biotech :) but what about Thermofisher working on their Ion Torrent platform (although this isn't a startup). They use ISFETs for DNA sequencing. Also there is Oxford Nanopore Technologies which sequence DNA by measuring changes in current as DNA passes through a nanopore. ONT is a startup :)

adenadel 11y ago

I think that scientists in industry are usually desirable for their skill set rather than knowledge in their specific field of study. I bet that you would be able to find industry work in your general field, but, as you say, probably not in the specific subfield that you've studied so far (this is obviously somewhat unsatisfying for people who have dedicated years of their lives to studying something). Out of curiosity, what are you working on?

QuantumRoar 11y ago
Simulation of CMOS-Transistors by a semi-classical approach. A self-consistent deterministic solver for the Poisson equation, Schrodinger equation and Boltzmann equation including small signal analysis and noise characterization of the device. Basically you want to gauge the crude models of circuit designers. But nanoscale transistors are hard to accurately understand. In particular, there's currently no good way to get predictive small signal parameters and noise characteristics of devices at such a scale. So here I am, doing some of the first decent simulations for transistors at current technology nodes. Definitely not something a startup is looking for :)
- adenadel 11y ago
  My focus is on biotech :) but what about Thermofisher working on their Ion Torrent platform (although this isn't a startup). They use ISFETs for DNA sequencing. Also there is Oxford Nanopore Technologies which sequence DNA by measuring changes in current as DNA passes through a nanopore. ONT is a startup :)