It is one thing to find something cool in controlled laboratory environments. It is completely another to scale that new baby for sale.
The tension between innovation and commercialization is something we regularly struggle with at Abstrax. Every morning we do laboratory jackets and ask the same question: “How do you earn money on research in a lab?”
Bring innovation in balance with commercial reality
Discovery for itself is not enough. Many R&D-heavy companies discover that brilliant ideas can grow away for years if they do not have a system to market them.
We decided early to build that bridge proactively. This meant investing heavily, not only in research, but in the systems and machines that connect laboratory work to practical products. Our scientists do not come up with ivory towers, they work hand in hand with product developers to adjust (most) experiments to market needs.
This pragmatic approach focuses our curiosity. We have deposited sources into advanced analytical technology. Among other things, we operate an ultra-sensitive aroma analysis platform with the nickname Omni. This allows us to break down a complex taste in hundreds of molecular components and determine those that matter. By capturing a “3D metabolite fingerprint” of a material (cannabis flower, hop varieties, etc.), we get a complete map of the aromacemy of that sample.
Why go to these extremes? Because understanding a taste at that grainy level is the key to replicate, improve and ultimately earn money. We can identify more than 500 different connections in a single hop voltage. That level of resolution shows us opportunities that others may miss, such as the spores that complete pineapple, or a sulfur connection that is responsible for “Skunky” notes.
From breakthrough to beer glass
To illustrate how laboratory testing is income, you take our recent work with Citra, one of the most celebrated hops in traditional brews. The attraction of Citra lies in its remarkably juicy, complex taste – think you are grapefruit, lime, peach and passion fruits steamed in one. This tropical medley makes a delicious beer by Citra-hopped beer. But here is the rub: consistently reaching the same taste is difficult. Hop are agricultural products, subject to the whims of weather and annual variation. The Citra that you get this year may not taste exactly like last year’s crop.
This is where our lab-to-market philosophy seems. With the help of Omni we profiled the chemical makeup from Citra in beautiful details. Armed with that ‘blueprint’, we developed an omni hop profile extract that reflects Citra’s taste profile with creepy accuracy. For Brewers this is a game changer. Instead of being delivered to Mother Nature, they can rely on our Citra extract to deliver exactly the same taste forever, forever. And because it is made of botanically derived ingredients, it remains loyal to the clean-label standards that Brewers adhere to. We even worked with experienced brewmaster on pilot brews to refine the performance of the extract in different beer styles. By the time our Citra profile came on the market, it was tested by Brouwer and ready for production.
Our Citra victory emphasizes our core principle of reasonable innovation. We did not stop when discovering what makes that hop special, we have insisted to make it a tangible solution for a real problem. That is the essence of generating income with generating R&D: moving “Eureka!” To a viable sku.
No fluff, only real solutions
In avant-garde industries such as cannabis and traditional beer, it is easy to get caught in hype and daring claims. We prefer another tack: let the results speak. When we say that our new formulation improves the shelf life of a beer or an extract, the aroma of an IPA stimulates, we have the data to support it. Innovation of grounding in evidence keeps us credible and ensures that we remain focused on the real market value.
We also acknowledge that not every experiment will come out, and that’s okay. Part of our system is knowing that it is never committed 100% pot. We will test 10 ideas and then quickly double the one or two that show commercial promise. By failing quickly and smartly, we retain sources for the innovations that count.
The new R&D playbook
Our journey from Laboratory to Markt has not been easy or easy. It took patience and the willingness to invest in advance. But that patience is bearing fruit. Nowadays, the approach to Abstrax Niche is changing scientific insights into regular products. What others regard as a cost center is our motorcycle for growth.
When scientists and strategists work synchronously, every discovery is viewed by the lens of the impact of the real world. The healthy tension between invention and commercialization keeps us sharp. It appears that the laboratory and the market are fairly good in balancing each other.
Kevin Koby is CEO and co -founder of Abstrax.
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