Program Description

Sciencepreneur aims to accelerate knowledge transfer at NOVA, supporting scientists who want to understand how to create value from their research and have a technological or scientific breakthrough to identify the best path for its commercialization, through a one-on-one guidance on how to build a go-to-market strategy, from research results to impact.

Participants will have access to:

• Support and follow-up by experts from NOVA and program partners, with experience in knowledge and technology transfer and business development;
• Regular meetings with selected coaches/mentors, who will closely follow the evolution of the participants/teams and facilitate networking opportunities;
• Feedback/guidance from venture capitalists and science-based entrepreneurs;
• NOVA Mentor Network and other resources;
• Connection with different schools and other research labs, depending on specific needs.

This initiative is promoted by the NOVA Impact office.

Key goals:

• Explore, identify and analyze the best path for commercializing a lab’s emerging technology or scientific breakthrough (licensing vs. spin-off), including IP protection or how to value the research (e.g. public policies);
• Generate new science-based business opportunities;
• Identify the best market opportunities for the proposed technology or scientific breakthrough and its scalability;
• Promote the conversion of NOVA technologies or scientific breakthroughs into economic and social value;
• Provide the participants with the mindset to create socioeconomic value out of their research.

Workload and Activities:

The Program will take place in blended format, through a period of about 7 weeks. The estimated availability is of 8 hours per week.

Selected applicants will be attributed a mentor to support in the process and there will be a clearly defined list of milestones to achieve throughout the program, towards the desired goal. Teams must comply with these milestones.

Teams/individual will produce a business case, and in the end will pitch their project to a panel of investors and experienced entrepreneurs. The best project will earn a prize of 1.000€.

Criteria for pitch assessment:

• Innovative or Disruptive project and its impact on the society;
• Quality of the idea presented, translated through the arguments presented by the team (or individual) in relation to the necessity in the market or in the society that the  solution (technological product or service) is able to satisfy;
• Quality of the Business Case report;
• Quality of the presented go-to-market strategy (if applicable);
• Quality of team skills /individual to develop the project;
• Adequacy of the presented financial structure.

Outcomes:

During this program the participants will:

• Write a Business Case with an analysis of the technology or scientific breakthrough status, the intellectual property landscape, if applicable, a consideration of the competition, an overview of an appropriate business model, and recommendations for next steps – Please note that the final conclusion might be three way: 1) Create a spin-off; 2) Find a licensee/partnership; or 3) Go back to the lab and improve the technology;
• Find business-oriented members to join the team (in case of individual applications or teams lacking this background) – if applicable;
• Pitch the outcomes to a group of experts from business and venture capital contexts.

Access the regulation of the Sciencepreneur programme here.