How we work

FIND serves as a bridge between the developed and the developing world by leveraging the strengths of its diverse partnerships to build up technological platforms for diagnosis of poverty-related diseases. We work in partnership with academia and research institutes, industry, governments, as well as international and other non-profit organizations.

The Product Development and Implementation Partnership model

Since its establishment in 2003, FIND adopted the public private partnership (PPP) model as the most effective way to fulfill its mission. This model entails active collaboration between the private and public sectors, combining specific skills and resources from entities in each area, in order to achieve greater and quicker impact.

This model overcomes the barriers preventing private companies from prioritizing investment in research and development of diagnostic tools for use in low-resource settings.

FIND provides the link between commercial companies, which have the technology but not the financial motivation, the academic world, which is focused on conceptual innovation but is ill-equipped for product development, the public health sector, which plays a major role for access to endemic countries’ markets, and public donors or philanthropic organizations, which provide essential funding but are not implementers.

We act as a catalyst, providing a coordinated mechanism to accelerate innovation and pushing the different groups in the partnership to develop and optimize tests that meet the health needs of disease-endemic countries, evaluating the tests that emerge, and demonstrating their value in disease control. Our partners

An innovative and creative intellectual property policy

FIND has developed a novel commercial model based on a segmented IP policy that overcomes usual barriers to product availability and ensures affordability and access for the public health sectors in developing countries, while motivating industry partnerships.

Where an IP applies, industry partners assign all rights to FIND for royalty-free use of their technology in the public and private non-profit sectors in high endemic countries, while the industry partner retains distribution rights for the private sector in developing countries and in both the private and public markets in the developed countries. This enables the partner to recover R&D costs and to create the returns needed to develop new technologies.

FIND’s IP model has been successfully validated with industry partners and has contributed to an important and increasing number of contracts signed with large and small-sized companies.

A performing project management framework

FIND applies an industry-style approach to product development and has adopted a project management framework which takes products from proof of principle through development, evaluation, demonstration of impact, and finally to access.

We use standard operating procedures (SOPs) which clearly articulate the key milestones in terms of targets and timing at each stage of the process.

High quality standards are applied through SOPs and in all areas of operation and at all levels of the organization. Our quality management systems were inspected and awarded ISO 13485 and 9001 certification in June 2007.