When a laboratory mishap becomes a “brilliant failure”: iSentio – a company on the verge of success

When a laboratory test goes wrong, it might just be that the outcome still turns out to be an innovation. This is the case with iSentio, which developed a real innovative method for deciding which bacteria a patient is infected with starting with a single mishap when trying to analyze a clinical sample. In such a sample, more than one type of bacteria can be found, which has made it almost time consuming and in some cases impossible to tailor-make the antibiotics treatment, exposing the patient to the danger of the infection spreading and worsening. However, the iSentio method called RipSeq®, was able to identify each bacteria present in the patient sample quickly, making it possible to apply the appropriate type of antibiotics immediately.

Written by Tor Aase Johannessen from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from Tor.Johannessen@nhh.no.

ThreeFive Photonics: Searching for the Holy Grail?

In 2001, the Dutch company ThreeFive Photonics was founded by telecom professional Wouter Deelman and PhD student Chretien Herben attached to Delft University of Technology. The founders set out to develop revolutionary opto-electronic chips with the potential to change the telecom industry. That year, venture capital firms invested € 7 million in the promising start-up, but additional capital was needed to develop ThreeFive’s radical “Holy Grail” technology. However, during the product development phase disaster struck: the ‘telecom bubble’ burst and the industry crashed. Desperately trying to keep the company alive, the founding team and investors turned to investigate less radical products, while trying to secure the extra funding needed. As the company’s final hour began to strike they faced an important decision: should ThreeFive try to enter new markets with new products, or look to merge with a competitor?

Written by Elco van Burg, Hans Berends and Sharon Dolmans from Eindhoven University of Technology. Download the full case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from j.c.van.burg@vu.nl.

Hydrometeorological Innovative Solutions HYDS: Overcoming the Oedipus complex

Established by Sempere, Sánchez-Diezma, and Berenguer in 2006 and located in Barcelona (Spain), HYDS S.A. offered innovative solutions in hydrometeorology, a science that develops predictive modelling and data processing tools to facilitate the forecasting of precipitation in the short to medium term. Emerging out of CRAHI, one of the world’s leading public research centres in hydrometeorology, HYDS became one of the most innovative companies in its field.
In 2008 HYDS was focused on CRAHI markets and customers, basically regional weather and water public agencies, and large companies involved in water cycle management. However, it soon became clear that what was good for a research centre was not necessarily good for a spin off. The entrepreneurs had invested more than €200.000 and the return on the investment was not at all clear.
By using radar data input, HYDS software solutions were able to predict whether or not it would rain within the next two to six hours. But who might be interested in this kind of services? Outdoor sports organizers, farmers? One point was clear; whoever interested in these services would be completely different from CRAHI customers. So, if HYDS was to grow, its management had to come up with new approaches, processes, products and markets.

Written by Pere Losantos and Xavier Estaran from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. Download case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from pere.losantos@upc.edu.