Threading the Innovation Chain: Scaling and Manufacturing Deep Tech in the United States

The talk will examine the benefits and difficulties of biomanufacturing, along with our engineering insights into the challenges faced during scaling. While the U.S. remains a global leader in fundamental scientific discovery, its "innovation chain" is severely flawed, consistently failing to turn Deep Tech breakthroughs—from advanced materials to bio-fabrication—into large-scale domestic manufacturing. The main systemic issue is the lack of patient, risk-tolerant capital and suitable infrastructure to bridge the dangerous "valley of death" between a lab prototype and industrial-scale production. Through a case study, we demonstrate how the high costs and logistical complexities of the scale-up phase (TRLs 4-7) lead to technologies being commercialized and manufactured overseas. We conclude that without a major system overhaul—potentially building on existing Department of Defense frameworks—to directly connect innovation with domestic production, the U.S. risks losing future economic, technological, and national security advantages.

Prof. Demirel, Lloyd and Dorothy Huck Chair in Biomimetic Materials, is a scientist and innovator (National Academy of Innovators-NAI member) with expertise in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and materials science. He also founded a climatech company for decarbonizing textiles (Tandem Repeat, Inc.) Over the last two decades, Professor Demirel and his research team have focused on developing functional nanoscale biomimetic materials. His team designed, fabricated, and synthesized advanced materials by studying the functional transitions of biomimetic systems, both computationally and experimentally. Prof. Demirel's achievements have been recognized, in part, through his receipt of a Young Investigator Award from the Department of Defense, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, a Wyss Institute Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, an Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter Junior Fellowship, The Nicholas and Gelsa Pelick Biotechnology Innovation Award and the Pearce Development Professorship, and a Penn State Engineering Alumni Society Outstanding Research Award. Prof. Demirel received his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, and BS/MS degrees from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. Prof. Demirel is well known for his ground-breaking work on bioinspired programmable materials.