T ranslation of novel therapies for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases to the clinic has been slow despite significant new initiatives from funding agencies. One reason for this is that different incentives drive industry, academia, and funding bodies. These communities therefore lack common goals and often communicate poorly, resulting in unintended obstacles that hamper progress in efficiently translating basic scientific discoveries into medical practice. Here, based on our own personal experiences, we discuss some of the drivers within each community that cause these problems, existing mechanisms to facilitate the translation of science into medical practice, and remaining issues that need to be solved.