To be true innovators, companies have to put innovation at the forefront of their business growth strategy. But what does that look like in practice?

Paul Lem, founder and CEO of Spartan Bioscience, offers some key ways his firm’s focus on integrating innovation positioned him as a world leader in medical diagnostics and beyond.

When the mapping of the human genome was completed in 2003, world-renowned entities like GE, Canon, MIT, Harvard and Stanford began to pile money and resources into being the first to develop technology to harness the diagnostic potential of DNA. Lem, a medical doctor who had worked on the genome project at Stanford, had a solid understanding of what was at stake.

“I just kept thinking, ‘What do doctors and patients really want?’” says Lem. “One day, people would want instant access to DNA tests. I felt I had as good a chance of anyone of making it happen.”

“Fundamentally, everyone wants to know health information—and DNA is at the root of all that,” says Lem. “But we had a lot of competition.”

When it came to DNA diagnostics, most research institutions and firms were zeroed-in on creating a DNA chip, a device developed out of silicon semi-conductor technology. Lem took a different approach.

“A lot of these companies were thinking if we throw enough money and people at this, we can make it happen,” he adds. “But we thought, ‘We’re in Ottawa; there’s no way we can afford a billion-dollar silicon lab.’ Not only that, but the chip would be ridiculously expensive and there wouldn’t be an opportunity to scale it up for years.”

“Spartan’s solution was to focus on the chemistry bring DNA testing away from the lab and to create a personal, portable DNA analyzer.”

By starting out with a clear idea of the problem he wanted to solve and a proposed solution, Lem was able to put the ball in motion to make it happen.

Spartan Bioscience: You can now hold a DNA test in the palm of your hand

When, in 2015, Lem’s small company made one of the biggest breakthroughs the health science world had seen in more than a decade, there was little celebration. The team at Spartan Bioscience designed a handheld device to capture and test DNA instantly. But there was no “aha moment” and little fanfare, says Lem.

His team had been caught up for 10 years in a global race-to-market with more than 200 organizations to create the world’s first instant DNA tester.

Lem knew from the beginning that it would take years to hit the target. He had to sell both investors and employees on that fact. Innovation, as his team approached it, came in the tiniest of increments. Beyond the decision to file for patent protection a few years ago, Lem can’t even pinpoint the exact day or hour the device was “created”.

 “We celebrated milestones like creating new applications or the next generation of the device. We’re now on our fourth,” says Lem. “But the kind of research we’re doing doesn’t end in a single ‘wow’ moment. We were heads down for years and we will be for years to come. This incremental approach to innovation requires a lot of commitment and a lot of patience.”

“Innovation was integrated with our business growth strategy from the beginning. We didn’t see the point of spending a decade in research only to come out with a product that wasn’t marketable.”

If there’s no obvious market for your product, consider creating a new one, says Lem.

Spartan embraced the fundamentals of “disruptive innovation”

Although they were competing with large entities, a big part of Spartan’s innovative approach was to create a diagnostic tool that would appeal to people beyond those working in hospitals.

“We’re big believers in the disruptive innovation approach,” says Lem. “To be truly disruptive means more than simply creating something new.”

“Disruption means taking existing technology and creating net new users by making it cheaper or more convenient to use.”

“The vision was that we’d build the ‘game console’ and then people would come to us to tell us what sort of games they want on it.”

“By making something portable and finding new net users, we knew the product would be instantly scalable.”

Lem intended his product to have  multiple, broad applications. His company’s continual growth is centred on the idea that the Spartan Cube can be adapted for use by people across a broad range of industries, not just medicine.

Customers are often big pharmaceutical companies, governments or medical institutions. They suggest the “game” they want—a DNA test—and Spartan’s team finds a way to create it.

Among its successful applications, Spartan has an FDA-approved drug metabolism test in the global market. The test is now used by the Mayo Clinic for the largest trial of genetics in cardiology. The test identifies a gene carried by 30% of the world population, which can complicate pharmaceutical treatment following heart surgery. If left undiscovered, the combination of drugs in gene carriers can be fatal to certain patients.

At the behest of a pharmaceutical client, the research and development team spent 18 months last year to create a DNA test for use in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s patients. The test can identify mutations of a gene associated with increased risk of late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

In February, 2018, the Spartan Cube added the capability to test for a deadly bacteria called Legionella, a useful tool for owners of large buildings, like condominiums, office towers and hotels.

“We get calls weekly from organizations around the globe with new uses for this handheld DNA analyzer,” says Lem. “It was always our intention to create a scalable product.”

Having the right people in place with a common goal is more important than just funneling money into R&D, says Lem.

The founder of Car Canada, Jonathon Donaldson, is Spartan’s head of business development. Most of the executive team were mined from experienced tech talent.

“The huge advantage to being in Ottawa is the hardware talent with the history of telecommunications pioneers like Nortel.  We had the chemistry brains already. We set out to recruit some of the best hardware talent Ottawa had to offer.”

Having a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve from the outset is important, but Lem also encourages his team to do the following along the way:

• Take risks
• Celebrate failures
• Acknowledge and celebrate incremental success
• Be creative

“My team has a lot of autonomy in how they do their work. We’ve offered them a compelling vision of what we’re working toward and they can directly see that what they’re doing makes a difference. As a result, we have 80 people who are committed to us and to this project.”

“It’s not an easy sell,” says Lem. “In 2005, we closed our first $500,000 cheque and I quit my job to start Spartan as a full-time business.

Over the years, Lem, along with his brother John, a hedge fund manager, continued to seek investment and other financing streams. In 2010, Lem was awarded $200,000 as the winner of the Ontario Premier’s Catalyst Award for Best Young Innovator.

In late 2013, when Spartan was on the edge of finally creating the first generation of the diagnostic tool, industry giant Canon backed out of the global research race to support Lem financially.

When asked why one of his biggest competitors would back Spartan, he said: “There are still researchers who are working to create something similar. But at the heart of this, everyone wants to get this product to market.”