EIC Tech to Market Entrepreneurship Programme: Let’s talk with EIC Transition Awardee, Iris Arweiler
- ›The EIC Tech to Market Entrepreneurship Programme helps EIC Pathfinder and Transition researchers develop business skills and validate deep tech ideas.
- ›EarDiTech, led in its entrepreneurial aspects by Dr Iris Arweiler, uses behind‑the‑ear EEG to diagnose so called hidden hearing loss and an algorithm to mitigate it.
- ›The EIC Business Idea Validation Bootcamp offered pitching practice, customer and investor interviews, and tailored feedback that EarDiTech used to shape its commercial pathway.
- ›EarDiTech progressed from the Bootcamp to EIC Venture Building activities and joined the Tech Demo Day on medical technologies in September 2023.
- ›Significant translational obstacles remain, including clinical validation, regulatory classification, reimbursement strategy, and integration with hearing aid manufacturers.
EIC Tech to Market and EarDiTech: a pathway from research to a commercial hearing solution
The European Innovation Council Tech to Market Entrepreneurship Programme targets deep tech researchers emerging from EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition projects who have entrepreneurial ambitions. The programme bundles training and tailored support to help researchers build value propositions, test business models and accelerate the transition from laboratory prototypes to marketable products. One component is the Business Idea Validation Bootcamp which focuses on business model development and validation using design thinking methods. The first round of that Bootcamp has already run and participants took part in events such as the Innohealth Forum organised by JOIST Innovation Park and the European Digital Innovation Hub Health Hub.
What the Business Idea Validation Bootcamp does
The programme is not a substitute for deep commercial experience but it is designed to reduce the early stage risk of technology translation by exposing researchers to market realities. For projects that have not historically needed business skills, the Bootcamp provides recurring, structured opportunities to refine messaging and assumptions about customers and partners.
Who is Iris Arweiler and what is EarDiTech
The clinical and technical problem being addressed
Those technical concepts are promising but require substantial downstream work. Objective electrophysiological measures such as auditory brainstem responses and envelope following responses are established research tools but translating them to robust, field ready diagnostics will need larger scale clinical validation trials. Likewise moving an algorithm from software prototype to low power microchip and then into certified medical devices will require engineering, regulatory and commercial partnerships.
How the Bootcamp and wider EIC Tech to Market services supported EarDiTech
| Stage | Purpose | Typical activities |
| Tech Demo Days | Showcase technology to potential partners and early customers | Targeted demos and networking events |
| Opportunities' Exploration | Assess market attractiveness and commercial interest | Expert feedback on market fit and corporate interest |
| Team Creation | Build founding teams and recruit complementary skills | Co founder search and governance advice |
| Venture Support Services | Prepare for investment and scale up | Investor readiness, business planning and introduction to funding |
EarDiTech participated in the Tech Demo Day on medical technologies and medical devices in September 2023. The project was judged to have commercial potential and moved into the Opportunities' Exploration phase where it will receive expert feedback on market attractiveness, corporate interest and team expertise.
Practical caveats and the road ahead
Translating an EEG based diagnostic and a compensatory algorithm into a commercial product requires addressing several predictable challenges. Clinical validation on representative patient populations is essential to demonstrate sensitivity and specificity compared with current standard tests. Regulatory classification and approval pathways for a diagnostic device will influence design, time to market and development costs. Reimbursement is another open question because health systems and insurers must be convinced that a new test or embedded algorithm improves outcomes or reduces costs. For the mitigation algorithm, integration with hearing aid manufacturers will be necessary to reach users at scale and that requires partnering agreements and often lengthy technical integration cycles. Intellectual property strategy, manufacturing scale up and early market adoption by audiologists and clinicians are additional hurdles that a spin off will need to overcome.
Takeaways for researcher entrepreneurs in the EIC ecosystem
EarDiTech is an example of how EIC Transition projects can use the Tech to Market programme to bridge the gap between academic proof of concept and a credible commercial pathway. The Bootcamp and Venture Building services provide practical exercises, expert feedback and access to networks that researchers commonly lack. That said, early momentum from these programmes does not remove the need for rigorous clinical trials, clear regulatory and reimbursement strategies and credible industrial partnerships if a spin off aims to commercialise medical devices or algorithms embedded in regulated products.
Where to find more information
If you want to know more about the EIC Tech to Market Entrepreneurship Programme and open calls visit the EIC Community page dedicated to the programme. For additional questions contact the EIC helpdesk and choose EIC Tech to Market (T2M) Entrepreneurship Programme as the subject. This article is based on an interview conducted at the Innohealth Forum and on public EIC Community material.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is provided for knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission or any other organisation.