From lab curiosity to visible impact: why leadership training mattered

When technical excellence meets clearer communication and stronger leadership the chances that research reaches broader audiences and customers improve. That is the argument behind the European Innovation Council's investment in skills for women innovators. The case of Dr Anna Sandak illustrates how targeted leadership and communication training can amplify a research programme already recognised by major EU grants and help bring living materials research out of the lab and into policy and public view.

Who is Anna Sandak and what is she building?

Anna Sandak is head of the Materials Group at the InnoRenew Centre of Excellence and deputy director at InnoRenew CoE in Izola Slovenia. Her profile spans basic science and applied research in biomaterials for the built environment. In recent years she has led projects that attracted competitive EU funding across instruments that target different stages of research and innovation.

The combination of EIC and ERC recognition is notable in a small innovation ecosystem such as Slovenia. The EIC narrative highlights that Sandak is the first Slovenian researcher to receive both ERC and EIC funding and that REMEDY was the first EIC Pathfinder in Slovenia led by a woman coordinator. Those milestones have symbolic value for national ecosystems that are still building depth in deep tech entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary scale up.

What the technology promises and what it must still prove

Sandak and her team pursue Engineered Living Materials or ELMs. These are materials that integrate living organisms to provide adaptive functions such as self-repair, sensing, or active surface treatment. The projects use concepts from microbiology and synthetic ecology to create coatings and microbial inks that can be applied to wood concrete or polymer substrates.

Technical promise comes with a long checklist before market deployment. Key hurdles include reproducible scale up of biological systems consistent performance in variable environmental conditions regulatory approval for intentionally deployed living organisms and integration with existing building codes and suppliers. Public acceptance and insurance frameworks will also matter for commercialisation.

How leadership and communication training changed the trajectory

Sandak enrolled in the 7th cohort of the EIC Women Leadership Programme in early 2025. The programme is part of the EIC Business Acceleration Services and aims to support women researchers and entrepreneurs through blended learning mentoring and networking. Participants receive skills training in negotiation pitching public speaking and team leadership plus one to one business coaching and mentor matching.

For Sandak the programme provided clarity structure and practical leadership tools at a moment when REMEDY had just started and ARCHI-SKIN was seeking wider exposure. She singled out a public speaking and storytelling session led by trainer Rebecca Williams as pivotal for sharpening how she and her team explain their work to non specialist audiences and stakeholders.

Networking mentoring and real world connections

Beyond training content participants emphasise the value of curated networks. Sandak found the cohort’s in person and online sessions useful for exchanging experiences across countries and disciplines and for building confidence. The EIC also links awardees to business acceleration services such as procurement matching investor readiness and trade fair exposure that can convert research into pilots and contracts.

Such ecosystem services matter because deep tech commercialisation is rarely linear. It depends on finding early adopter customers aligning with regulatory pathways and building teams with both scientific and commercial expertise. Mentors and coaches can help navigate these practical challenges but they are not a substitute for follow on funding and institutional changes that lower systemic barriers for women founders.

Broader context and a cautious appraisal

The EIC and related programmes are explicit about closing the gender gap in research and innovation. Current EIC indicators show progress for example that in 2024 around 30 percent of companies supported in the EIC Accelerator had a woman CEO CTO or CSO and that women coordinate a meaningful share of Pathfinder and Transition projects. These are positive signals but parity is still distant and representation varies between programmes and countries.

Targeted leadership training and mentoring can accelerate individual careers and improve project visibility. They are necessary interventions for a balanced ecosystem but they are not sufficient alone. Structural barriers remain such as access to follow on capital especially for deep tech hardware and biology ventures complex regulatory landscapes for living materials and persistent biases in investor networks. Measuring long term impact on company creation scale up and market adoption will be essential to judge whether programmes deliver systemic change.

Implications for policy makers and research leaders

Sandak’s experience highlights three practical lessons for funders and institutions that want to strengthen the pipeline from discovery to impact. First leadership and communication training should be embedded early alongside technical grants because they improve stakeholder engagement. Second ecosystem services that connect innovators to procurers investors and industrial partners are crucial for converting pilots into pilots and pilots into commercial contracts. Third regulatory roadmaps and upfront biosafety assessments are particularly important when innovations involve living organisms.

For national ecosystems like Slovenia the combination of ERC prestige and EIC acceleration offers a template to build local capacity. But scaling impact will require continuing investment in follow on funding business support and regulatory clarity to move ELMs from demonstrators to commercially viable products that meet building standards and public expectations.

Where to learn more and how to engage

If you are an EIC or EIT beneficiary interested in leadership programmes or business acceleration services check the EIC Community Platform and the EIC Business Acceleration Services pages. Women TechEU and the European Prize for Women Innovators are complementary instruments that provide direct funding and visibility for early stage women-led deep tech startups. For technical details refer to project pages such as ARCHI-SKIN on CORDIS and Science4EU campaign materials for public-facing summaries.

Contact information and programme queries can be directed to the EIC Community contact pages or the EISMEA and EIC Business Acceleration Services helpdesks. For researchers working on living materials consider engaging early with regulators insurers and potential procurers to map nontechnical barriers alongside laboratory R and D.