The Decade of Coopetition

 Unsolved diseases, wars, pandemics, hunger, drought, emerging technologies, speed, and security…

Aren't they too many challenges to face alone? Aren't they too many problems for any one person, company or nation to solve on its own?

We live in a world of new business models and groundbreaking technologies, yet we often rely on an old-school mindset: competition above all else. Everyone wants to be the one: the leader, the hero, the person who mattered most. But the truth is, these problems are bigger than our egos.

The real shift we need is this: instead of trying to be "that person", we must learn to be "one of them". One of the people, organizations, or innovators contributing to a collective solution.

Let's take hunger as an example. Where would you start?

By making agricultural systems more efficient? Preventing food waste? Facilitating access to food? Producing foods with higher nutritional value? Restoring soil fertility? Protecting farmers’ rights and livelihoods? Safeguarding animal welfare? Creating sustainable food systems? Advocating for food rights at the policy level? Ensuring food safety at scale?

The answer is: all of the above. Each of these avenues requires different expertise, different tools and different players. No one can cover them all alone.

Healthcare and biotech mirror this reality. We see countless examples where working in silos slows down progress.

We live in an era of biotechnological revolution. We are entering a period where miracles created in laboratories are not staying behind closed doors but reaching patients, blending into our lives, and transforming the technology landscape. Biology is no longer separate from silicon-based innovation; it stands beside it, sometimes replacing it, sometimes working together with it, creating a true game-changer. That is why I call this moment the biotechnological revolution.

The challenges we face as a global community are too vast and too complex for any single player to tackle in isolation. We have reached a point where we cannot ignore biology, nature, and science when solving the world’s problems. At the same time, we cannot overcome biology-driven challenges by working in isolation. Tackling a disease requires thousands of perspectives, thousands of ideas, converging toward a single outcome.

Take cancer as an example. Let me show you how different companies in the Capital Cell portfolio, each with a different approach, are running toward the same goal.

Our enemy: cancer. Our mission: to defeat it. Our priority: the patients.

- Saxol works to protect patients during chemotherapy by preventing peripheral neuropathy, a side effect that often forces doctors to reduce or stop treatment. By safeguarding patients, Saxol ensures they can continue therapy for longer and at effective doses.

- Apmonia Tx attacks the tumor microenvironment, the supportive shield that cancer cells use for survival. By disrupting this protective niche, Apmonia leaves tumors vulnerable and easier to defeat.

One protects our priority, the patients. The other weakens our enemy, the cancer itself. Together, they represent two essential movements of the same fight.

What is coopetition?

Coopetition is the balance of cooperation and competition. It shows its strength when different players combine their resources, knowledge, and perspectives without losing their own ambitions. Competitors can become collaborators when the goal is bigger than any one company or lab. They might share data, open their manufacturing lines, or work together on clinical trial platforms, while still pursuing their own commercial paths.

The balance is delicate. Too much competition slows progress because discoveries stay locked in silos. Too much cooperation can dilute motivation and blur accountability. The power of coopetition comes from knowing where to draw the line: collaborate on the foundations of science, then compete on the applications. This rhythm is what makes it an accelerator for innovation.

The rise of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing shows this clearly. When the first research appeared, laboratories around the world began testing, refining, and publishing their own solutions. Instead of one slow channel of discovery, dozens of teams were contributing at the same time. Each breakthrough added another piece to the puzzle, and the technology advanced at a pace that would have been impossible for a single lab.

At the center of this story stand Emmanuelle Charpentier in Berlin and Jennifer Doudna in California. Two scientists from different countries, two universities, two research cultures. They combined their expertise and in 2020 shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After that, they both supported and created companies around CRISPR: CRISPR Therapeutics, ERS Genomics, Mammoth Biosciences, Caribou Biosciences. These startups now compete in the biotech market, but they all grew from the same shared foundation.

The result is not just a scientific tool; it's a global industry. CRISPR has become a paradigm shift in biotechnology, transforming medicine and research years ahead of schedule. This happened because the field embraced coopetition. Scientists collaborated on discovery, and then competition pushed those discoveries into therapies that can save lives.

What we can achieve with coopetition?

Coopetition is a toolbox for building real solutions in science, healthcare, and technology. When we embrace it, here is what becomes possible:

Coopetition is one of the most effective ways to expand small markets. When players in the same field work together, they raise awareness, create momentum, and make their field more popular and investable. At the same time, this kind of collaboration helps build meaningful relationships. Networks created in this way allow you to ask for help when you hit roadblocks and to support others when they need it. Trust flows in both directions, and innovation moves faster.

Clinical progress is another area where coopetition shows its strength. Collaborating enables access to more patient data, stronger endpoints, and more reliable outcomes. Giving credit when others solve a different part of the challenge strengthens the ecosystem, and shared success becomes more valuable than isolated achievements.

Resources often look limited, yet coopetition opens new doors. Funding, talent, infrastructure, and even lab space can be generated collectively and used more efficiently through shared models. Emotional support is also part of this framework. Even if those around you do not fully understand, connecting with people facing the same difficulties builds resilience and can become a lifeline when you are close to giving up.

Shared platforms help establish global standards that reduce duplication, build trust, and speed up worldwide adoption. As a result, regulatory pathways become more predictable and faster. This environment attracts long-term investors, who are far more willing to commit capital to resilient and scalable ecosystems than to isolated players. Risks are spread across the network, failures are easier to absorb, and successes scale more quickly.

These actions show that coopetition is more than an abstract concept. It is a way to expand markets, speed up science, de-risk investment, and even sustain the human spirit in difficult times. It turns isolated efforts into ecosystems where every participant moves faster because the others exist.

Working in coopetition does not mean erasing boundaries. It means drawing them clearly. Make mutual agreements, define responsibilities, and keep a healthy balance between giving and receiving. Do not fall into the extremes of being an angel who sacrifices everything or a demon who takes without giving back. Be focused on your work, protect your interests, and commit fully to advancing your mission.

If the idea of coopetition still feels distant, let me leave you with a question: what if your competitors are already collaborating?