EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme: Find out what happened in our Tech Demo Days of September!

Brussels, October 19th 2023

Summary

›In September 2023 the EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme ran two Tech Demo Days for medical technologies and sustainable food chain innovations.
›Selected EIC Pathfinder and Transition projects pitched to panels of experts and two projects moved to the Opportunities' Exploration phase.
›Participants reported value from expert feedback, networking and targeted support needs such as team building, regulatory guidance and IP protection.
›The programme offers a four phase venture building path from Tech Demo Days to on-demand venture support, including talent scouting and entrepreneurs in residence.

EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme convenes Tech Demo Days for deep tech spinouts

In September 2023 the European Innovation Council Tech to Market Venture Building Programme organised two thematic Tech Demo Days focused on Medical technologies and medical devices and on Food chain technologies, novel and sustainable food. The events were run with the involvement of EIC Programme Managers and brought together selected EIC Pathfinder and EIC Transition projects to pitch to panels of market and technical experts. The initiative aims to help promising research move from lab to venture by validating market potential and by offering follow up services such as team building, recruitment and targeted advisory support.

What the Tech Demo Days are:One of four entry points of the Venture Building journey where project teams present technology concepts to a panel of experts who assess market potential, readiness to scale and barriers to commercialisation. The sessions combine public pitches with one-to-one expert meetings and networking opportunities.

Who took part and what they pitched

Two projects highlighted during the Tech Demo Days were EndoSolve and Asteasier. Both are EIC-funded projects from the Pathfinder and Transition tracks and both moved from the Demo Day to the next programme phase called Opportunities' Exploration.

EndoSolve and Sision Medical:EndoSolve, represented by Siobhán Kelleher of Sision Medical, presented a platform that uses digital biomarkers and wearable monitoring to risk-stratify patients with inflammatory endocrine conditions such as endometriosis. The stated aim is to support clinical decision-making and enable more personalised care pathways.

Asteasier:Asteasier pitched a process to produce natural astaxanthin using new patented strains of microalgae. Astaxanthin is a red pigment widely used in aquafeed to pigment salmon and crustaceans. The project claims higher efficiency, CO2 uptake during production and lower costs compared with conventional production methods.

Participants' and managers' perspectives

EIC Programme Managers took active roles during the Demo Days. Programme Manager Ivan Stefanic, who oversees the food chain and sustainable food area, described the transition from research institutions to SME-led commercialisation as not just a step but a quantum leap. He framed the Venture Building Programme as a targeted response to that gap.

Project representatives highlighted the value of expert feedback and networking. Siobhán Kelleher said being among other deep tech teams and having individual meetings with experts helped broaden EndoSolve's network and clarify potential routes to market. Lorenzo Sbizzera from Asteasier welcomed specialist feedback and said he expects the programme to help complete the founding team and address regulatory and IP steps.

Experts' view

Each Tech Demo Day assembled a panel of at least ten experts spanning academia, investors, corporate partners and EIC business coaches. Two experts who spoke about the events were Elena Kopanarova of Oecon Group and Samantha Barbero of ValueXMatch. They emphasised early stage needs such as improved pitching, team formation and practical business skills for researchers.

Why expert panels matter:Panels offer immediate market-facing feedback and a first filter for technical teams. They can identify gaps in value proposition, regulatory readiness or team skills that must be addressed to attract industry partners or investors.

What the Venture Building Programme offers and where it stops short

The EIC Tech to Market Venture Building Programme outlines a multi-stage pathway. Services include thematic Tech Demo Days, expert-led opportunities exploration, team creation through tailored recruitment and access to entrepreneurs in residence, and on-demand venture support covering IP, finance, HR and regulatory advice. The stated goal is to convert promising research into viable start-ups. However, turning feedback into traction depends on follow-through such as securing funding, finding cofounders willing to leave academia and navigating complex regulatory regimes in areas like medical devices and food ingredients.

Key gaps that participants flagged:Participants repeatedly identified the need for team completion, regulatory strategy and intellectual property protection. These are common commercialisation bottlenecks that require sustained support beyond one-off demo events.

Programme phases at a glance

Phase	Main activities	Expected outputs
Tech Demo Days	Thematic pitching sessions, expert feedback, networking and one-to-one meetings	Initial market feedback, shortlist of promising projects
Opportunities' Exploration	Feasibility and market attractiveness validation by business experts	Recommendations on target markets, priority use cases and barriers
Team Creation	Tailored recruitment, access to entrepreneurs in residence and talent brokerage	Complemented founding teams and potential cofounders
Venture Support Services	On-demand advisory on IP, finance, regulatory, HR and branding	Business plans, legal and regulatory roadmaps, investor readiness

Examples of technical concepts explained

Digital biomarker-based risk stratification:Digital biomarkers are physiological or behavioral data collected by sensors or wearables and processed to infer health status. For conditions like endometriosis digital biomarkers can support triage and monitoring, but clinical validation, regulatory classification and interoperability with health systems are substantial hurdles before routine clinical use.

Microalgae-based astaxanthin production:Astaxanthin is a carotenoid pigment with commercial demand in aquaculture and nutraceuticals. Producing it via engineered or selected microalgae strains can reduce reliance on synthetic processes and on extractive sources. Claimed benefits include lower CO2 footprint and cost reductions. Commercial scale-up requires consistent strain performance, downstream processing solutions and regulatory clearance for feed and food use in different jurisdictions.

How projects progress and where to get support

Projects that perform well in Tech Demo Days can be invited into Opportunities' Exploration and then into Team Creation and Venture Support if they show market promise. The programme also offers a call for experts and an entrepreneurs in residence talent pool to link experienced founders with researcher teams. At the time of writing the Venture Building programme was operating with rolling expressions of interest and monthly cutoffs for selection into thematic cohorts.

Practical next steps for EIC beneficiaries include expressing interest through the EIC T2M channels, involving technology transfer offices where relevant and preparing concise market-focused pitches. For details and to request a briefing call beneficiaries are invited to use the EIC Community helpdesk and select the EIC T2M Venture Building Programme subject line.

Operational note:According to the EIC's programme pages the Tech to Market activities were subject to implementation cycles. Interested applicants should check the latest status on the EIC website because some services were paused for reorganisation and were planned to resume in 2026.

What to watch for and a measured view

The Venture Building Programme addresses a real bottleneck in European deep tech commercialisation which is the transition from project results to sustainable companies. The Demo Days model helps surface promising projects and create an early market test. Yet the hard work starts afterwards. Building a founding team, securing follow-on funding, navigating medical or food regulation and proving scalable manufacturing are often multi-year endeavours. The programme can lower friction but it is not a substitute for patient capital, rigorous clinical or regulatory evidence and commercial partners.

Contacts, applications and disclaimer

If you are an EIC Pathfinder or EIC Transition beneficiary interested in future cohorts consult the EIC Tech to Market pages and the EIC Community helpdesk. When contacting the helpdesk choose 'EIC T2M Venture Building Programme' as the subject. The information in this article is intended for knowledge sharing and does not represent the official view of the European Commission.

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