Serendipity means a "fortunate happenstance" or "pleasant
surprise".Serendip is the Perso-Arabic name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
How do we inspire new ideas that could lead to potential treatments for rare or
neglected diseases, and allow for serendipity that could help to catalyze
them?
How we can build a more concrete structure for the "idea-hypothesis testingproof
of concept-translation-breakthrough pathway" ?
What do Rollerblades, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and Spider-Man movies have
in common? The answer: Each is something that adults loved as children and
that was reproduced in an expensive form for grown-ups. Asking
brainstorming participants to ponder how their childhood passions could be
recast as adult offerings might generate some fabulous ideas for new
products or services.
Stories of serendipitous discoveries in medicine incorrectly imply that the path
from an unexpected observation to major discovery is straightforward or
guaranteed.
The causes of revolutionary science are varied and lack an obvious common
structure. For many years, drug discovery was a target- and mechanismagnostic
approach that was based on ethnobotanical knowledge often fueled
by serendipity.
There should be a greater appreciation for the importance of serendipity in
scientific discovery. Serendipity Based Medicine (SBM) should be the present
and future of medicine. Big Data will need Big Thinking.