Corporate Biotech Incubators

When Pfizer Inc. and Biogen Inc. set up their respective incubators in 2007, the idea was to identify—very early on—good ideas and to nurture them into young companies, showering them with the experience, knowledge and resources of the parent firm. For Biogen, the project was overtly strategic from the start: its purpose was to fuel the Big Biotech's early-stage pipeline, providing housing only in exchange for pre-negotiated option rights. Pfizer's project started with a loftier, more blue-sky outlook—pulling in cool science for the sake of it—but has since narrowed to something highly strategic, too.

These two companies are among the few corporates to dip their toes into incubating—in the traditional, physical sense of providing...