Bridging the Quantum Lab-to-Market Gap: How External Experts Boost Tech Transfer

Last month we explored why now is the moment to commercialize quantum technology. But recognizing urgency is one thing—figuring out how to turn arcane lab breakthroughs into real-world products is another. Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) at universities and research institutions sit at this junction, tasked with shepherding quantum discoveries toward ventures, products, or licensing deals. It’s a formidable challenge. Quantum science isn’t a smartphone app you can spin up in a garage; it’s esoteric physics, cryogenic hardware, and complex algorithms all rolled into one. So how can TTOs succeed? One answer: by teaming up with external commercialization experts who have the right mix of domain savvy, business acumen, and industry connections to complement internal efforts.

In this follow-up piece, we’ll look into how external partners—consultancies, venture studios, specialized advisors, accelerators—can bolster TTOs and research institutions. We’ll unpack the pain points TTOs face in quantum commercialization and look at lessons from other industries (pharma, semiconductors) that have been there, done that. We’ll also highlight real-world examples in quantum where outside partnerships helped spin out startups or seal licensing deals. The goal: show how a collaborative model where external experts and TTOs together turn quantum discoveries into successful ventures, without replacing the critical role of the TTO.

The Pain Points: Why Quantum Tech Transfer Is Harder Than It Looks

Even for seasoned tech transfer professionals, quantum tech presents unique headaches. TTOs are accustomed to bridging academia and industry, but quantum pushes that bridge to its limits. Key challenges include:

Interdisciplinary Complexity: Quantum technologies blend physics, engineering, computer science—and often brand-new phenomena that few people truly understand. A single innovation (say a quantum sensor or new qubit design) might require expertise ranging from materials science to advanced algorithms. It’s tough for a small TTO team to confidently evaluate and develop such tech without help. In fact, universities frequently resort to creating spin-out companies when they “do not have the necessary will, resources, or skills to develop new technology” in-house. Quantum projects often fit that bill due to their specialized complexity.

Long Development Timelines: Unlike a software app that can iterate and deploy in months, quantum hardware and applications can take years (even decades) to mature. Building a market-ready quantum computer, sensor or network isn’t a quick flip; it involves prolonged R&D, prototyping, and scaling challenges. This long horizon means a higher risk of falling into the “valley of death” – that chasm between promising research and a product attractive to investors or customers. TTOs operating on annual budgets and short-term performance metrics struggle to sustain projects over such long timelines without external funding and support.

Investor Readiness & Market Uncertainty: Quantum tech is hot but also hyped. Investors are intrigued, yet wary of science projects with unclear near-term ROI. TTOs face pressure to de-risk inventions and package them into compelling business cases. That’s hard when the target market might not even exist yet (e.g. what’s the addressable market for a topological qubit device?). Crafting a pitch that translates quantum jargon into a vision of a product and a scalable business often requires specialized market insight. Many TTOs lack dedicated staff who track quantum industry trends full-time. Without a polished story and a clear path to market, even groundbreaking tech can languish without funding.

Resource Constraints & Bandwidth: Let’s be honest: most TTOs are lean operations. A handful of officers might manage hundreds of invention disclosures across all disciplines—from biotech to engineering to software. Quantum projects are just one item on a long list. Providing the intensive hands-on incubation that a quantum spinout needs (e.g. weekly mentoring, customer discovery, refining pitch decks, networking with VCs) can overwhelm internal staff. It’s not that TTOs lack talent; they lack time. This is where outside help can significantly extend a TTO’s reach.

Licensing vs. Venture Dilemma: Traditionally, TTOs often prefer licensing IP to an established company (for a royalty stream) rather than launching a startup for every invention. But in quantum, there aren’t many incumbents ready to license early-stage tech; the field is so new that the likely path is a startup venture. Not every university has an incubator program or seed fund for that. And spinning out a company introduces challenges—finding a CEO, raising venture capital, etc.—that go beyond a TTO’s typical scope.

In short, quantum pushes TTOs into uncomfortable territory: highly complex science, long-term development, uncertain markets, and a heavier reliance on venture creation. It’s a perfect storm of pain points. This is precisely where external commercialization experts can step in as lifesavers, helping navigate the storm.

Enter the External Experts: What Outside Partners Bring to the Table

External commercialization partners are specialists who live at the intersection of deep tech and business. They might be consulting firms with quantum expertise, venture studios or incubators focused on science-based startups, or domain-specific advisors (like a former quantum startup CEO now mentoring others). These external players can complement the work of a TTO in several crucial ways:

Domain Expertise & Translation: External experts often include PhDs or industry veterans who speak quantum as fluently as balance sheets. They can translate a raw discovery into a development plan, identifying which aspects of the science have real commercial promise. For example, a domain-specific advisor might help a TTO figure out that a novel quantum material is best applied in, say, quantum memory devices rather than computing, and chart a path accordingly. This expertise helps ensure no important detail is lost in translation from lab to market.

Business Modeling & Market Insight: A venture studio or consultancy can work closely with researchers to shape a viable business model around the technology. This involves assessing possible applications, sizing up markets, and even reaching out to potential end-users for feedback. TTOs benefit from this by getting a clearer picture of where the technology fits. External partners may have up-to-date market research at their fingertips—say, the latest on quantum encryption demand in finance versus government—information that internal teams might not readily have.

Access to Networks (Investors, Industry, Talent): Perhaps one of the biggest boosts external partners bring is their network. Consultancies and accelerators can open doors to venture capital firms interested in quantum, corporate innovation teams looking for tech to pilot, and seasoned entrepreneurs who could step in as CEOs or advisors for the new venture. Consider the network effects: a single quantum startup mentor from industry might introduce a university team to a half-dozen relevant contacts, from manufacturing partners to first customers. This web of connections greatly accelerates what a small TTO staff could do on its own.

Hands-On Acceleration & Funding: External venture programs (like accelerators and incubators) often come with pre-seed funding or help in securing it. More than money, they impose a structured process and momentum—think of it as “startup bootcamp” for the research team. Weekly check-ins, goals, and pitch days force the academic founders to iterate quickly on prototypes and business pitches. The result? In a few months, the project evolves from a scientific demo into a startup candidate with a polished pitch deck and maybe a minimum viable product. University TTOs partnering with such programs see their quantum innovations progress farther, faster. A great example is the Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre (QTEC) in the UK, which provided bespoke training and incubation for academic founders. Over five years, QTEC supported 48 researchers, leading to around one-third of all funded quantum tech startups in the UK. That kind of concentrated support simply would not have been possible within the university alone.

Specialized Advisory for Complex Hurdles: External advisors can tackle niche yet critical issues that TTOs might not have bandwidth for. Is the quantum invention entangled with export control regulations or government security classifications? Bring in a consultant who knows the compliance landscape. Does the team need to build a prototype that requires semiconductor fabrication or cryogenic testing? An outside expert could connect them with a lab or company that offers that service. These are things outside partners routinely handle, acting as the project’s project manager beyond the campus walls.

Crucially, none of these roles replace the TTO’s function—they augment it. The TTO is still the quarterback inside the university: managing IP filings, navigating university policies, and aligning the project with the institution’s mission. But with external collaborators, the TTO suddenly has a deeper bench. It’s the difference between going it alone versus having an experienced pit crew in a Formula 1 race.

The story of IonQ exemplifies the power of combining internal innovation with external know-how. Two professors (Krishna Palem and Jungsang Kim) had world-class research but needed business partners and funding to launch a company. By partnering with a VC firm (New Enterprise Associates), they gained seasoned guidance and capital. The university’s TTO presumably helped with IP licensing and company formation, but it was the external venture support that propelled IonQ forward. Fast forward: by 2021 IonQ was able to go public on the NYSE, a milestone that few academic-born startups reach without significant outside help. This kind of academic-industry collaboration is becoming the template for quantum spinouts.

Lessons From Pharma and Semiconductors: External Support as a Force-Multiplier

If leveraging outside experts for commercialization sounds like a novel idea, it isn’t. Other deep-tech domains have long recognized that getting innovations out of the lab often requires external support structures.

Take pharmaceuticals for example. Universities regularly discover drug candidates (a new molecule, a promising antibody), but bringing a drug to market costs billions and can take a decade. The typical university TTO doesn’t run clinical trials or build pharma sales teams—external partners do. It’s common for a discovery to be licensed to a biotech startup or pharma company early, or for a professor to co-found a startup with a venture capitalist. In fact, the birth of the biotech industry was exactly that: Genentech, often considered the first biotech company, was founded in 1976 by a UCSF scientist and a venture capitalist working hand-in-hand. That marriage of scientific genius with commercialization know-how set the stage for countless lifesaving drugs. Today, many universities host incubators adjacent to medical schools or partner with pharma-sponsored accelerators to shepherd academic drug discoveries through the “translational” phase. The key insight from pharma: external commercialization experts didn’t replace academic labs; they propelled their ideas forward (while the universities still reaped rewards via royalties or equity).

Now look at semiconductors. The invention of the transistor at Bell Labs was a triumph of science, but it took an ecosystem of industry collaborations to turn that into the global semiconductor industry. An illustrative example is the SEMATECH consortium in the 1980s: a U.S. government-backed initiative that brought together private chip companies, equipment suppliers, universities, and research institutes to jointly tackle the leap from lab research to manufacturing. This external coalition addressed challenges (like improving yields and lithography) that no single university or company could crack alone at the time. Meanwhile, Stanford University in the 1950s-60s famously encouraged professors and students to start companies in Silicon Valley, but those efforts were buttressed by external capital and industry mentorship (from early venture investors and corporate partners). The takeaway from semiconductors: big leaps in commercializing complex technology happened when academia partnered up with external experts and pooled resources to solve practical engineering problems.

Both pharma and semiconductors tell a similar story: tech transfer is a team sport. The internal team (TTOs, professors, labs) provides the invention and foundational knowledge; external players provide extra skills, funding, and pathways to market. Quantum technology today stands in a similar position to biotech in the 1970s or microchips in the 1960s—brimming with revolutionary potential, but needing robust support beyond the lab to fulfill it.

Quantum’s Emerging Commercialization Ecosystem: Partnerships in Action

Encouragingly, the quantum field is already building its own ecosystem of external support, often in close partnership with research institutions. Around the world, quantum accelerators, venture funds, and industry alliances are sprouting to become that bridge between scientific discovery and practical product.

For instance, in Canada, the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) runs a specialized Quantum Stream where early-stage quantum startups (often founded by researchers or students) are mentored by business veterans and scientists over an intensive program. CDL doesn’t take over the university’s role, but it provides a structured environment where academic founders get pushed to find product-market fit and connect with investors. Many quantum startups—ranging from quantum cryptography firms to quantum machine learning software—have come out stronger (and better funded) after going through such programs.

In the United States, the Chicago Quantum Exchange (a collaboration among University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and others) launched Duality, billed as one of the first quantum accelerators in the U.S. Its first cohorts included startups emerging from university research in areas like quantum sensing and quantum software. Duality pairs them with corporate partners (like IBM, Microsoft, etc.), experienced mentors, and provides workspace and funding. The result is a sandbox where academic innovations are stress-tested against real-world business conditions before they leave the nest. Again, the local university TTOs are deeply involved in these spinouts, but external resources from the accelerator make the process far more viable.

Europe, too, has examples: The Quantum Technology Enterprise Centre (QTEC) we mentioned earlier was funded by the UK government precisely to inject entrepreneurship training into quantum researchers. Its impressive metric—contributing to one-third of UK’s quantum startups —shows the impact of augmenting traditional tech transfer with a dedicated external program. Even though QTEC has concluded its initial run, it has spun into a new Quantum Incubation Hub (Quest) at Bristol’s SetSquared incubator, ensuring that pipeline of support continues. And across Europe, national initiatives under the EU Quantum Flagship are increasingly recognizing that funding R&D isn’t enough—they are also seeding incubators, innovation hubs, and public-private partnerships to move quantum tech out of labs and into factories or startups.

Another emerging trend is quantum-focused venture funds and consultancies that liaise closely with universities. Funds like The Engine (affiliated with MIT, though not exclusively quantum) or Oxford Sciences Innovation in the UK (which has backed several Oxford quantum spinouts) provide not just capital but also strategic guidance. They often work alongside TTOs by evaluating the commercial potential of discoveries and even placing Entrepreneurs-in-Residence on campus to scout and shape new spinout opportunities. These entrepreneurs or expert advisors function as temporary extra TTO staff dedicated to quantum, one project at a time. For example, an entrepreneur with a background in photonics might team up with a university’s quantum optics lab for six months to formulate a business plan and line up seed investors, essentially preparing the venture for launch while the TTO handles IP and institutional approvals.

All these instances highlight that a pattern is emerging in quantum tech transfer: build a hybrid team early. The researchers bring the breakthrough, the TTO brings the IP management and university backing, and external partners bring everything from entrepreneurial mindset to execution muscle and market connectivity. When this triad works in harmony, quantum ideas that once might have languished in a thesis or journal paper can actually become a product on the market or the foundation of a startup.

Partners, Not Replacements: Making the Collaboration Work

A crucial aspect to emphasize is that external commercialization experts are there to complement, not usurp, the role of internal TTOs. For universities, this can be a cultural adjustment. TTO officers are used to being the primary drivers of commercialization for their institution. Bringing in outside help requires trust and clear division of roles. But when done right, it’s a win-win-win: the TTO accelerates successes (and ultimately sees more revenue or research impact), the researchers get a stronger shot at seeing their work benefit society (and possibly a lucrative startup stake), and the external partners succeed when the venture succeeds (through equity, reputation, or consulting fees).

How can TTOs and external partners best collaborate?

Early Engagement and Clarity: TTOs should involve external experts early, while evaluating the invention’s potential. For instance, if a physics lab reports a new quantum simulator design, the TTO might bring in a known quantum computing entrepreneur for an initial assessment. All parties should be clear on what they bring: the TTO handles patenting and university processes, the external expert evaluates market fit or connects with industry, etc. Early alignment prevents turf wars and keeps everyone focused on advancing the technology.

Customized Collaboration Models: Depending on the case, the partnership can take different forms. Sometimes a consultancy contract is appropriate (e.g. an external firm conducts a market study or drafts a commercialization strategy for the TTO). Other times, a venture co-founding model works: the external partner actually takes a co-founder role in the new startup (common with venture studios or VCs who incubate projects). In yet other situations, an accelerator program with a defined timeframe may be best to push the project forward. TTOs can maintain flexibility in how they partner, case by case.

Knowledge Transfer to TTO: A side benefit of working with external experts is the learning that flows back to the TTO staff. By observing how a venture builder crafts a business plan for a quantum sensor, or how a consultant pitches the quantum project to industry, the internal team gains insight for next time. Over time, the TTO builds its own capacity in quantum domain knowledge and startup best practices. External partners essentially act as on-the-job training for the TTO, even as they help on the specific project.

Shared Success Metrics: It helps to define what success looks like together. Is it a startup formed and seed-funded within 18 months? A license deal with a top quantum technology company? A joint development agreement with a corporation? By setting mutual goals, the TTO and external folks ensure they’re rowing in the same direction. And importantly, they should agree on how to share credit and returns—e.g., the university might retain equity or royalties, the external partner might get equity or fees, etc., structured so that everyone benefits if the project succeeds.

We should address a possible concern: Will external partners take over or sideline the TTO? Experience suggests the opposite. The best external partners are enablers who know that the university’s support and IP are indispensable. They don’t want to replace the TTO; they want to get the invention to market and know they need the TTO on board to do that properly. In fields like tech and biotech, external commercialization firms often develop long-term relationships with university TTOs built on trust and repeat collaboration. Quantum will be no different. The more success stories emerge, the more TTOs will see external experts as an extension of their team rather than an intrusion.

Toward a “Quantum TTO” – The Next Frontier

It’s worth imagining where this trend could lead. As the quantum industry matures, we might see the rise of dedicated “Quantum TTO” services—external entities that function almost like an outsourced tech transfer office specifically for quantum technologies. Think of a boutique consultancy or venture studio that works with multiple universities on quantum projects, pooling expertise and investor networks across them. This Quantum TTO could, for example, have a stable of quantum-focused mentors, access to specialized prototyping facilities, and a deep Rolodex of quantum investors and industry contacts. A university with a breakthrough quantum idea could tap this external Quantum TTO to fast-track their commercialization process, knowing that the team deeply understands both the science and the market landscape.

We’re already seeing glimmers of this: some consulting firms are branding “quantum commercialization” units, and former heads of academic quantum programs are forming advisory companies to help others. While it’s early days, the concept underscores a forward-looking approach: treat quantum tech transfer as its own discipline, one that may exceed the scope of a generalist TTO and thus benefits from concentrated expertise. Importantly, such a dedicated service would work alongside university offices—much like how outside counsel works with a general counsel in legal matters, or how external auditors work with an internal finance team.

The suggestion here isn’t that every university will outsource its quantum tech transfer entirely, but rather that a hybrid model could become the norm. In fact, quantum might spearhead a new paradigm of tech transfer due to its demands—one that other emerging fields (like fusion energy or advanced AI hardware) could follow. By embracing the idea of a “Quantum TTO,” research institutions signal that they’re serious about moving quantum science from the pages of Physical Review Letters to the hands of users, whatever collaborative structure that entails.

Conclusion: Collaboration – The Quantum Advantage in Tech Transfer

The race to commercialize quantum technology is on, and it’s not a sprint by a lone runner; it’s a relay. TTOs carry the baton of discovery from the lab, but to reach the finish line of market impact, they must hand off (and continuously team up) with external partners who can run the next laps. External commercialization experts provide the extra legs, the fresh perspective, and the stamina needed for quantum’s long journey to market.

By focusing on how to commercialize—through collaboration—rather than just why, we see a clear message: Quantum’s big wins will come from breaking silos and working together. Universities, TTOs, scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and industry mentors all have a role to play. The narrative is no longer academia versus industry or internal vs external; it’s a unified effort to ensure quantum breakthroughs don’t get stuck on a lab bench but instead thrive as companies, products, and services that change the world.

For TTOs, engaging external experts is not a sign of weakness; it’s a strategic strength. It means more shots on goal for their inventions and potentially spectacular returns for their institution’s research (both in financial terms and in societal impact). For external partners, teaming with TTOs offers access to the raw innovation and talent emerging from top labs—basically the fuel for the next wave of high-tech ventures. It’s a symbiotic relationship.

In the coming years, as quantum tech moves from prototype to product, we will no doubt celebrate success stories that have this collaborative DNA. A new quantum drug molecule licensed to a biotech that cures disease; a startup selling quantum sensors that originated in a university and now help farmers or climate scientists; a cutting-edge quantum encryption technology securing our internet thanks to a spinout co-created by a lab and a venture studio. In each of these wins, if you peel back the layers, you’ll find a TTO that wisely welcomed external help and an external expert who respected and amplified the work of the TTO.