Selected work

From emerging science to strategic impact.

These case studies demonstrate how I translate external innovation into action—identifying high-potential technologies, shaping investment and partnership opportunities, aligning stakeholders, and moving innovations toward implementation, commercialisation, and business growth.

Industry engagement

Leading the conversation.

I bring leaders across biotech, venture capital, and research together to explore how strategic partnerships can turn early innovation into fundable, scalable ventures.

Dr. Zara Asgharpour moderating a Swiss Biotech Day 2026 panel in Basel — Moderating “Engineering Success: How Partnerships Transform Early Biotech into Fundable Ventures” at Swiss Biotech Day 2026.

Audience attending the Swiss Biotech Day panel in Basel — Connecting the discussion with a global biotech audience.

Dr. Zara Asgharpour participating in a panel on external innovation — Sharing an industry perspective on external innovation.

Strategic Investment & Early Innovation Partnering · Lonza

Turning External Innovation into Business Growth

The Opportunity

In a global biologics CDMO, external innovation is not simply about finding interesting technologies. The challenge is identifying those with genuine strategic relevance and creating a pathway from external discovery to partnership, investment, implementation, licensing, or commercial opportunity.

What I Built

As Head of External Innovation, I developed a structured process and approach to technology scouting and opportunity development across Integrated Biologics. I created evaluation and governance mechanisms to assess emerging technologies against scientific, strategic, commercial, and investment considerations. I align with R&D Centers of Excellence, the Licensing Business Unit, Early Development Services, IP, and commercial stakeholders to turn external opportunities into actionable projects, while building relationships with technology companies, biotech founders, venture capital firms, academic institutions, and innovation ecosystems across Europe and the US. The portfolio includes more than 500 opportunities and 30 partnerships.

Impact

The external opportunity pipeline increased from 10 opportunities in 2022 to 30 in 2025, with opportunities progressing beyond scouting into executed collaborations, technology evaluations, new commercial offerings, licensing agreements, and acquisitions.

What This Demonstrates

The work reflects how I operate at the intersection of science, strategy, capital, partnerships, and execution—identifying where external innovation can create strategic value and building the mechanisms required to move it from promising technology to tangible business opportunity.

Corporate venture capital · ZEISS

Building a Corporate Venture Capital at ZEISS

Challenge

ZEISS Meditec was building a Corporate Venture Capital capability to identify and invest in emerging technologies that could shape the future of manufacturing, healthcare, and surgical technologies. The challenge was to establish an investment approach that combined venture discipline with the strategic priorities of a global technology company.

Approach & Solution

As part of the founding team building the CVC unit, I helped establish the investment approach, pipeline, evaluation framework, and governance required to identify and assess early-stage companies. I developed investment theses, built relationships across the European and international startup ecosystem, sourced opportunities, and led end-to-end investment assessment—from initial screening and founder engagement through scientific, commercial, market, and financial diligence, valuation, investment-committee preparation, negotiation, and execution. The approach combined venture-investment discipline with strategic corporate value creation, assessing both investment attractiveness and relevance to ZEISS’s long-term technology and business priorities.

Results

The CVC platform developed a structured pipeline across AI, diagnostics, digital health, and surgical technologies, leading to strategic investments including MindPeak and Hypervision Surgical and establishing a repeatable framework for evaluating Series A and B opportunities.

Conclusion

Building the CVC capability gave me first-hand experience in translating emerging technology into corporate strategy, combining technology scouting, investment judgment, strategic alignment, and transaction execution. It became a foundation for the way I approach external innovation today: identifying where external science and technology can create strategic value and building the partnerships, investments, and pathways needed to capture it.

AI & diagnostics strategy · Carl Zeiss

Shaping the AI-Enabled Diagnostics Thesis

Challenge

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence were creating new possibilities in digital diagnostics, but corporate investment priorities needed a clear strategic focus.

Approach & Solution

I developed investment strategies for AI-enabled digital health, diagnostics, and age-related macular degeneration. I mapped relevant ventures, assessed technical and commercial potential, and connected market signals with ZEISS strategic capabilities.

Results

The strategy created a focused basis for opportunity sourcing and evaluation across a deal flow that included companies such as Proscia, CureMetrix, Optellum, Caresyntax, Augmedics, and Digital Surgery.

Conclusion

The project illustrates my capacity to translate emerging technology trends into actionable corporate venture priorities without losing sight of clinical relevance.

Commercial transformation · Materialise

Repositioning a $20M Medical Software Business

Challenge

A global medical image-processing product required a sharper commercial model and a roadmap capable of supporting sustainable growth across clinical and academic markets.

Approach & Solution

I led global product strategy, roadmap and budget planning, coordinated product development with marketing and business development, identified technology trends, and introduced a revised pricing strategy.

Results

The new pricing strategy increased revenue by 50%, while I retained responsibility for growth of a software product generating $20 million in annual revenue.

Conclusion

The outcome demonstrates my ability to connect product insight, pricing discipline, and cross-functional execution to measurable commercial performance.

Ecosystem partnerships · Materialise

Creating a Global Academic Innovation Network

Challenge

Advancing digital surgical planning required access to leading clinical insight, engineering research, and credible collaborators across multiple regions.

Approach & Solution

I built partnerships and licensing opportunities with key opinion leaders and institutions including MIT, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Imperial College London, UCL, Oxford, and Griffith University. I coordinated external agreements with a global internal team of 30, including five direct reports.

Results

The network strengthened the product innovation pipeline, informed technology integration, and supported the release and commercialization of new medical software solutions.

Conclusion

This work highlights my ability to make partnerships productive—linking academic excellence to defined product, intellectual-property, and business objectives.

Case studies use public résumé evidence and omit confidential commercial terms.

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