The second phase of the EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Venture Building Programme – the Opportunities’ Exploration phase – has recently onboarded its last group of 27 projects. Under this phase, the Programme will deliver 97 Feasibility Assessment Studies and, so far, 34 Freedom to Operate (FTO) reports have already been provided to the EIC beneficiaries.
In this phase of the Programme, 97 EIC Pathfinder and Transition projects have worked together with experts who evaluated and offered recommendations on the project’s feasibility from a technical, team and business perspectives to guide the participants to the most helpful next step towards venture building. We spoke with Kaija Pöysti and Rocco Barone, two experts that are currently working with the project teams onboarded in the Opportunities’ Exploration activities, to know more about their experience collaborating with the Programme.
Kaija expressed that she was impressed with the level and variety of innovations and the research that has gone to the innovations that she has been working with on the Programme. “They give good basis for the business and commercialisation, which do need development, but that is what the Programme is for”, she added. For Kaija, Programmes like the EIC T2M Venture Building are extremely important, “as they bring the business aspect in at early enough stage”.
On the teams that Rocco has been collaborating with, he finds their technologies “very promising and fascinating” with great technical development. He pointed out that the main points for improvement that he has been noticing are “the composition of the teams as well as a marginal consideration of the commercial aspects”.
Rocco’s main advice for researchers who are thinking of starting a business with their innovations is to be patient and persistent, as he explains: “the creation and commercialisation of a product is very different than an academic project, sometimes harder, and it requires several years of patience and hard work to succeed. Despite so, it is highly enriching and rewarding to achieve such result”.
Kaija Pöysti also shared her advice: “understand that knowing how to build a business is also an expertise, just like research expertise. Value the advice and information you receive through these kinds of Programmes, it is not easy to try to get it yourself, as it builds on extensive networks”.
For Kaija, having different types of experts in this Programme “is definitely a strength, because teams benefit from hearing different opinions”. She emphasized that having an active participation in these activities, as a researcher trying to reach the market, may help achieving the results easily.
Rocco Barone highlighted the importance of the EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme: “it represents an extraordinary way for researchers to bring their ideas to the market. It is a cornerstone of a strategic plan for Europe to transform the strong academic research of our universities into valuable products and companies. This Programme puts Europe in a better international position for entrepreneurship and competitiveness in the market”.
The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme’s activities are coming to an end by the end of the year. Keep an eye on the EIC Community to know more about our activities next year!
About the EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Venture Building Programme
The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme aims to help build start-ups to exploit promising research results through venture building services, comprising a range of activities from identification of promising business ideas to venture creation and development.
If you’re interested in knowing more about the Programme and our open calls, please visit our page on the EIC Community Platform.
Need help?
For additional information, please refer to our helpdesk by choosing “EIC T2M Venture Building Programme” as the subject.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.