EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme: Expert’s talk with Jep Tarradas

Brussels, August 22nd 2023

Summary

›The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building programme guides Pathfinder and Transition projects from lab to market through four phased services.
›Expert Jep Tarradas emphasises moving beyond technology to validate problem, value proposition, market size, team dynamics and a practical go-to-market roadmap.
›Common gaps include business acumen, direct market validation and strategic guidance, which programmes aim to address but cannot replace customer traction.
›Practical advice includes building a rigorous pitch deck, understanding competitors, protecting IP, prioritising team quality and targeting the right investors.
›The programme is currently paused and expected to resume in 2026, with calls for experts and entrepreneurs in residence closed until then.

From lab to venture: what the EIC Tech to Market programme actually offers

The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme is designed to help EIC Pathfinder and Transition beneficiaries translate scientific results into innovations that can sustain a spin-off. It is structured around four stages that move teams from early feedback on their technology through feasibility assessments, team formation and specialised venture support. According to the European Innovation Council, the Tech to Market services are currently paused and expected to resume in 2026.

EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition:Pathfinder funds high-risk exploratory research with breakthrough potential. Transition funds the maturation and validation of Pathfinder results toward specific applications, including steps toward a viable business case and technology readiness for market entry.

Venture building in this context:A set of structured services that help identify commercial opportunities, validate feasibility, assemble founding teams and provide targeted expertise such as IP, finance and HR to accelerate spin-off creation.

What happens in Opportunities' exploration

In the Opportunities’ exploration phase, independent experts examine technical feasibility, team readiness and business potential. They provide recommendations on market segments, customer needs and de-risking steps so teams can decide how to proceed. This is where investor-facing narratives are stress-tested against real market questions rather than internal technical milestones.

Who is the expert: Jep Tarradas

Jep Tarradas brings more than three decades of global executive experience at HP and now advises startups, teaches at IESE and ESADE executive MBAs and serves as Vice President of Strategy and Technology at Revo New Business Models. In recent years he has collaborated with The Collider, a venture creation programme linked to Mobile World Capital Barcelona, focusing on bridging research with market needs.

Inside the expert role: from evaluation to investor readiness

In his first participation in the programme, Tarradas evaluated two projects within Opportunities’ exploration. He assesses project status and potential to become startups or spin-offs, then contributes suggestions from a corporate perspective to help teams present a more credible case to investors. He pushes teams to define the problem or opportunity with precision, articulate a differentiated and sustainable value proposition, quantify market value and potential, identify the killer application and lay out a realistic roadmap to market. He also focuses on team expertise and dynamics as a determinant of execution quality.

Patterns observed in early-stage EIC projects

Across the projects he reviewed, Tarradas highlights three recurring characteristics. Teams are passionate about problem solving and technology. The technologies are often highly disruptive and span different industries. The teams display strong commitment to advance despite the time, budget and effort required to validate their value proposition and market fit.

Strengths and recurring gaps

On the strengths side, teams show deep engagement with the problem they are addressing and a solid grasp of the underlying technology. On gaps, Tarradas points to areas that academic researchers do not routinely manage. These include business acumen, market insights gathered by speaking directly with industry and customers to test hypotheses and strategic guidance to sequence technical and commercial validation. He also underlines the importance of a team environment where technical expertise and entrepreneurial drive work together so that research outcomes have a chance to achieve social and economic impact.

Building mixed teams that can ship a product

Teams that pair scientific depth with entrepreneurial operating experience tend to navigate market discovery faster. This includes building processes for customer interviews, pricing experiments, regulatory planning where relevant and staged pilots to prove value. The aim is not only to demonstrate technical performance but also to establish a credible route to customers, revenues and repeatable delivery.

Practical advice for researchers considering a startup

The pitch deck as a forcing function:Start by assembling a concise deck that answers the handful of questions every investor or corporate partner will ask. This should cover the problem, solution, market size, business model, traction and validation plan, team, competition, IP and roadmap. Iterate it with external reviewers and practice extensively.

Know the competitive landscape:Avoid claiming there are no competitors. Map direct and indirect alternatives, including global players and adjacent approaches. Demonstrate diligence on how your offer compares and where you compete once you leave your home region.

Defensibility matters:If you claim novelty, show your protective moat through patents, trade secrets, data advantages or integration complexity. Explain how this limits fast followers and underpins pricing power.

Investors back teams first:Highlight prior execution in company building, or compensate with advisors and hires who have operated in the target industry. Address gaps in go-to-market, regulatory and manufacturing experience.

Target the right investors:Research investor theses and stage focus. Tailor outreach to those who care about your domain and risk profile. Show why your timing and sector fit their portfolio logic.

Why programmes like T2M matter and their limits

Tarradas views the EIC Tech to Market offerings as fundamental for steering research teams toward validated market needs. He stresses that pushing technology without clear demand is like pushing a rope. Structured support ensures that teams define the target customer, approach channels, total investment required to investigate, develop, validate and launch and establish revenue plans and P and L thinking. These services can accelerate learning and reduce avoidable mistakes, but they cannot substitute for customer traction, capital discipline or a resilient founding team.

Product market fit:A stage where a venture demonstrates that a specific product consistently solves a real customer problem in a defined market segment, evidenced by measurable adoption and willingness to pay.

P and L basics for founders:Even early teams should model revenues, gross margins and key cost drivers to understand burn rate and milestones to validate assumptions. This informs fundraising needs and hiring priorities.

The T2M programme at a glance

The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme combines outreach, feasibility assessment, team building and specialist advisory support. It aims to identify promising opportunities, assemble capable teams and prepare spin-offs for early market engagement. Below is a structured view of the four phases and how an expert lens like Tarradas’ maps onto each.

Phase	What it includes	Expert emphasis and advice
Tech Demo Days	Thematic exploration workshops and feedback from market players on technology potential	Sharpen problem statements and identify credible initial applications where value is demonstrably higher than status quo
Opportunities’ exploration	Feasibility guidance from experts with business insights and concrete recommendations	Validate assumptions through external interviews, quantify market size, test value proposition and define a staged roadmap
Team creation	Individualised recruitment services, access to entrepreneurs in residence and talent brokerage	Blend scientific depth with operators who know the industry, channels and regulations. Clarify roles and decision rights
Venture support services	Needs analysis and advisory in IP, finance, HR and other venture creation domains, with on demand options	File and prioritise IP, model unit economics and P and L, plan regulatory and manufacturing pathways early

How to access, where to ask and important caveats

For details on services and open calls, consult the EIC Tech to Market page on the European Innovation Council website and the EIC Community. For support, use the EIC Community contact page and select EIC T2M Venture Building Programme or EIC T2M Entrepreneurship Programme as appropriate. The interview content is shared for knowledge purposes and does not represent the official view of the European Commission. At the time of writing, the EIC indicates that Tech to Market activities are paused and expected to resume in 2026. Calls for experts and for entrepreneurs in residence are currently closed and are expected to reopen when activities resume. The original post lists Business development, Organisation development, Partnership development and Skill development as topics and had 10 likes.

Broader EU deep tech context

Translating scientific breakthroughs into companies in Europe often hinges on disciplined market discovery, robust IP management and navigation of sector specific regulation. Capital intensity and long development cycles can strain early spin-offs, which is why staged validation and realistic fundraising plans matter. The EIC portfolio spans Pathfinder, Transition and the Accelerator, complemented by the EIC Fund on the equity side. National technology transfer offices and venture creation initiatives such as The Collider operate alongside EU level programmes. These supports can reduce friction, yet teams still face fragmented markets, complex procurement in regulated sectors and the need to prove commercial demand beyond pilots. Programmes like T2M are useful scaffolding, but sustained progress depends on customer adoption, execution and access to suitable capital over time.