Some of the most meaningful industry–academic partnerships don’t begin with a breakthrough headline or a flashy piece of technology. More often, they take shape around a real research need, a practical solution, and a willingness to keep showing up and working through the details over time. That’s the kind of collaboration we’re exploring here, including how ideas move from early-stage science into something researchers can actually use, and what it takes to make those relationships last.
My guest today is Mark Fairey, Senior Licensing Manager at STEMCELL Technologies, Canada’s largest biotech company known for its high-quality reagents, instruments, and tools used by life science researchers around the world. Mark has spent two decades at STEMCELL, moving through roles in R&D, scientific sales, business operations, and now licensing and business development. That range of experience gives him a grounded, practical perspective on what it really takes to turn academic discoveries into reliable, scalable products, and why the strongest partnerships often start long before anything is ready for market.
We talk about what actually bridges the gap between a promising idea in the lab and something that can be reproduced, scaled, and trusted in labs globally. Mark shares how STEMCELL evaluates technologies, why understanding real-world workflows matters just as much as the science itself, and where academic teams often underestimate the challenges of usability and scale. We also get into the role of tech transfer offices, what makes early conversations productive, and why consistent communication is still the backbone of any successful long-term partnership.
In This Episode:
[02:03] Mark Fairey reflects on his 20-year path at STEMCELL Technologies, from research into sales, operations, and licensing.
[03:11] He explains how time spent working directly with researchers gave him a clearer view of how products perform in the real world.
[04:07] The conversation turns to STEMCELL’s “scientists helping scientists” philosophy and how that mindset still shapes the company today.
[05:02] Mark discusses what helps move a promising academic insight toward something that can become a dependable product.
[06:18] He says early-stage science needs more than exciting data. It also needs a real commercial niche and a practical use case.
[07:26] A simple muffin-baking analogy captures why scaling a process is much harder than just repeating what worked in the lab.
[08:39] Mark shares how his exposure to customers and end users affects the way he evaluates technologies for licensing.
[09:47] Trust, strong science, and a shared commitment to improving research workflows all factor into lasting academic partnerships.
[10:56] He points to communication as one of the most important ways tech transfer offices can keep partnerships productive over time.
[12:04] Regular check-ins, clear expectations, and timely replies all make it easier for industry and academia to stay aligned.
[13:16] Not every collaboration leads to a license, and Mark explains why smaller, informal relationships can still be worthwhile.
[14:28] The discussion highlights what academic teams sometimes miss about usability, shelf stability, and large-scale reproducibility.
[15:42] Mark broadens the lesson beyond life sciences, arguing that commercialization always starts with solving a real-world problem.
[16:54] He reflects on how the volume of university innovation has grown and how both academia and industry have become more fluent in each other’s needs.
[18:06] When researchers or tech transfer offices first reach out, a solid non-confidential overview helps make the conversation more productive.
[19:02] Mark closes with his biggest takeaway for tech transfer professionals: communication, empathy, and active listening matter most in building relationships.
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