A new bridge between labs and boardrooms

A Polish model for bringing researchers together with large companies and VC funds has won a major competition and been given the chance to be rolled out in other EU countries. Its goal is to help create more startups based on European research.

A consortium launched in Poland by people straddling the worlds of business and academia has won one of the most competitive calls under the Horizon Europe program. The project, Empowering Universities and Industry Together to Scale a Challenge-Driven Model for Academic Spin-Off Creation (EUIT for short), aims to build bridges for close commercial cooperation between Europe’s largest corporations and researchers. The intended result is to make joint ventures between scientists and businesses – so-called spin-offs – far more common.

The model, developed in Poland over two years as the grassroots EU Innovate Together initiative, impressed Brussels enough to earn the opportunity to spread across the European Union in the near future. It fits squarely with the European Commission’s plan for a large-scale push to create spin-offs.

So obvious, yet so difficult to pull off

Although the idea may seem straightforward, it upends the traditional logic of cooperation between science and business: instead of waiting for a university to come up with a finished invention, large companies are expected to initiate research earlier into solutions they may need in the future. Both sides should benefit commercially. The challenge is “simply” to bring them together – which is easier said than done.

“We want to teach large corporations how to work with academia in a way that encourages them to identify the problems that will matter to them several years from now, help shape research agendas, support testing and become the first customer for the resulting technology,” says Dr. Jakub Jasiczak, who has spent the past two years developing EU Innovate Together and is one of the main coordinators of EUIT.

The project is being carried out by ten partners from eight countries. It is led by Startova UMK, the special-purpose company of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Its core consists of organizations from Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia. They include universities, research institutes and organizations specializing in building and scaling academic spin-offs. Poland is also represented by Jagiellonian University.

Partners from Denmark, Belgium and Malta have also joined the consortium. Their presence is deliberate. Denmark is intended to provide access to the Nordic ecosystem, Belgium to Western Europe and Malta to Southern Europe. The partners will also assess the effectiveness of the mechanisms being developed and help transfer best practices.

A paradigm shift

Alina Jaworska, who runs Startova UMK and manages the entire consortium, says the priority is to reverse the model that has so far dominated at universities.

“Until now, we have created companies that mostly started in the Polish market and only later tried to expand abroad. With this project – and, I hope, for many years after it ends – we want to start from a completely different level. We want to create spin-offs built by international teams of researchers, with a foreign partner on board from the outset and with the whole of Europe as their target market,” says Alina Jaworska, CEO of Startova UMK.

As Jakub Jasiczak explains, this is painstaking work because it requires convincing both sides: corporations, which often prefer to rely exclusively on their own R&D departments, and the academic community, which does not always accept the idea that business should help identify the research directions that are needed.

Business can reach for science

The Polish concept beat 35 other ideas and consortia in a European competition focused on new ways of supporting academic startups and spin-offs. Only two projects received funding. Interestingly, both are coordinated from Poland.

“This consortium was designed to build bridges across the entire European Union. Today, cross-border research cooperation is largely limited to possible joint projects between universities. We want businesses to understand that across Europe they have many potential research partners capable of helping solve the most complex challenges of the future,” adds Jakub Jasiczak.

The goal: reach 40, win over 12

The idea of close cooperation between business and academia will be tested and scaled across eight European countries. The project has been classified as a Coordination and Support Action. Its purpose is therefore not to fund scientific research, but to develop and test a new operating model that can later be rolled out more broadly across Europe.

Over the past two years, the founders of EU Innovate Together have approached the management boards of 52 European corporations. They persuaded 11 companies to join the initiative, including Orange, Veolia, Skanska and Saint-Gobain. They have also built relationships with ten foreign embassies in Poland.

Under Horizon Europe, they plan to approach another 40 corporations and persuade at least 12 of them to work with researchers and university-owned companies.

“We did not come with a pitch saying: give us the money, we will try and maybe it will work. We showed that over two years we had invested more than 1,000 working hours, launched the mechanism locally and proved that it works. Corporations are entering into coordinated cooperation with university researchers. Now we want to test and scale the project across Europe,” explains Jakub Jasiczak.

How the cooperation works

Large Western corporations are present in Poland and across Central Europe, but most often through factories, shared-services centers or units performing specific tasks. Much less frequently do they see local markets as research hubs and sources of knowledge and technological solutions that can be commissioned to develop specific technologies or solve particular problems.

That is precisely what EU Innovate Together is trying to change.

“Our goal was not to attract corporations to Poland. It was to persuade those already here to do more with the region’s research community. Central and Eastern Europe is home to hundreds of thousands of researchers. It makes sense to inspire them to work on challenges that matter to European business, especially in light of the EU’s strategies aimed at reducing technological dependence,” says Jakub Jasiczak.

How it works in practice – and how it could evolve

The key difference between the Polish concept and traditional accelerator programs lies in the point at which business meets academia. Today, a company will typically define a problem and then look for a startup or an existing technology that can solve it. That is scouting – useful, but geared toward a relatively short time horizon. Europe, of course, already has many accelerator programs of this kind.

“We are moving the point at which business and academia come together. It should happen when, working conceptually with a company, we can say, for example: ‘this is what the insurance industry may look like in 2035, and these are the problems we need to start working on today.’ That is when researchers should be brought to the table – people who can build teams, adjust their research agendas and tackle problems that require genuine scientific research. If a company can simply buy a solution off the shelf, then it is no longer a challenge for science,” explains the EUIT coordinator.

First the business need, then the scientific invention

The concept is also an attempt to address one of the fundamental problems with research commercialization in Poland and many other EU countries. Many academic spin-offs are built around technologies developed by researchers as part of their own work and interests, without first testing whether those technologies have a viable market application.

“Such a technology may be scientifically interesting, but no one has checked beforehand whether there is demand for it – whether there is a large customer ready to use it. A VC fund asked to finance a company founded by researchers looks at the project and concludes that the technology is interesting, but there is no market, no industrial application or no sufficiently strong business case. And before the spin-off has even had a chance to develop, there is already little reason for it to continue,” says Jakub Jasiczak.

The international consortium wants to reverse the entire process. First comes a strategic challenge identified by a large company. Then the researchers come in. The corporation is expected to take part from the experimentation stage, provide feedback and test successive solutions. If the project works, it becomes the university’s first customer.

The first customer, but not the last

Jakub Jasiczak stresses, however, that this should not automatically mean handing over all intellectual property. This is crucial because the traditional contract-research model often ends with the results being transferred to a single company. From the university’s perspective, that counts as commercialization, but it is difficult to build a company on that basis that can later sell the solution to other customers.

Under the new model, the corporation is meant to receive the technology it needs and could, for example, be granted a certain degree of geographic exclusivity. The researchers would retain the ability to build a spin-off, develop the solution in additional markets and bring in an investor.

“This gives European researchers the opportunity to build solid companies and continue developing their technologies. And that, after all, is exactly what Europe wants,” says Jakub Jasiczak.

VC funds should get involved earlier

Venture-capital funds are also supposed to come to the table earlier than they do today. Most VCs are reluctant to commit time and people to projects that have not yet reached a sufficient level of technological maturity. At the same time, the supply of such research-based solutions from Central and Eastern Europe remains limited.

To increase the number of startups that VCs may eventually find attractive, the new model would bring those funds into the process much earlier than usual. Before a company is even formed, they would help researchers and corporations shape the investment proposition and business model so that the research produces not only a strong technology, but also an investable spin-off.

The consortium wants to persuade at least 40 VC funds to take on this role and facilitate at least 20 meetings between investors, research teams and corporations. The focus is particularly on VCs that invest public funds.

The objective is simple: a fund should help shape today a project that it may itself want to invest in one, two or three years from now. For now, the supply of business-ready spin-offs is very low, but investors can see that the potential within academia is far greater.

A professor does not have to be the CEO

Another barrier to research commercialization emerges when a strong scientific team actually wants to set up a company. Not every researcher wants to – or is able to – become its CEO, look for customers, manage finances and build an organization.

The project therefore envisages creating a database, open to the entire academic technology-transfer community, of experienced managers who, after years in large companies, might be interested in running a technology business spun out of academia. The pool is also expected to include alumni of leading universities in the countries represented in the project consortium.

“We will look for these people, reach out to them, persuade them and prepare them for roles as CEOs or vice presidents of spin-offs. There has never been funding for this, and I have long known that there are many experienced people who, after years in the corporate world and achieving a high level of financial security, would be keen to get involved in running entirely new, ambitious businesses emerging from academia,” says Jakub Jasiczak.

Having a proven manager rather than a scientist at the helm of the company is also an additional argument for a VC fund to commit its capital.

A real partner opens up its plant

The next stage can be even more difficult: testing a technology at actual industrial scale. Both investors and researchers can reasonably expect a solution to be tested not only in the laboratory, but also on a production line or at a specific facility operated by a large company. Companies are wary of such trials. They have to consider the risk of production stoppages, damage to equipment, access to the plant by outsiders and liability in the event of an accident. As Jakub Jasiczak explains, today these issues are negotiated virtually from scratch for every project.

“That is why the next work package will involve 30 corporations and is intended to produce standardized rules for testing academic technologies at higher technology-readiness levels. These rules will cover, among other things, risk, access to infrastructure, the use of components protected by intellectual-property rights, and possible compensation for the company making its facilities available,” says the EUIT coordinator.

Poland, CEE and bridges to the West

The project will launch on January 1, 2027, and run for two years. Intensive preparations are already under way so that all eight substantive workstreams can begin immediately at the start of the new year.

The EU has allocated EUR 2 million to the project.

“That may not sound like much, but for three years in Poland I kept hearing from one innovation-support institution after another that there was no funding for our ideas. The EU, by contrast, saw in them the potential to grow across the entire continent,” Jakub Jasiczak emphasizes.

Will the project win over Polish ministers?

The 40 corporations included in the Horizon Europe project are intended to be only the start of the chain – a first incentive. In the future, many more research challenges are meant to enter the new mechanism.

“We need to set a rich table if we want researchers to come to it. The first course is challenges from European corporations. But the next ones should also include state-owned companies. I am discussing this with the Ministry of State Assets and the Ministry of National Defense. It would make sense, for example, to use major programs for procuring foreign weapon systems as an opportunity to launch research cooperation at the same time. I have been given the green light by the Ministry of National Defense to encourage Saab, the submarine supplier, together with its Swedish ecosystem, to enter into this kind of cooperation with Polish researchers,” says Jakub Jasiczak.

Polish consortium members set their own targets

Although the European Commission does not formally require a specific number of new companies to be created after two years, the consortium partners have set themselves clear business targets.

“I have set myself a specific minimum goal: I would like this project to generate at least three Europe-wide spin-offs at Startova. I do not yet know what they will focus on, because their areas are meant to emerge from real challenges raised by companies and from the expertise of researchers capable of addressing them,” says Alina Jaworska, head of the consortium.

At the same time, she stresses that the number of new companies is not the most important measure of success in the project.

“I do not want to reduce the outcome solely to the number of new spin-off companies, because the project lasts two years and preparing a company for launch may take longer. First, we need to find and convince business partners, identify their needs and then build research teams. The most important thing, therefore, is to create a pathway for new academic companies that are capable of operating in the European market from the outset,” says Alina Jaworska.

Jakub Jasiczak hopes that, in two years’ time, European corporations will already understand the importance and benefits of working with researchers from Central and Eastern Europe.

“I hope companies will be able to see the results and start coming to the system themselves,” says Jakub Jasiczak.

Winning over researchers is another challenge

The second goal is more difficult: changing the way some researchers define their role.

“This is not about doing away with basic research. Science pursued for the sake of discovery has value if it is world-class. But alongside it, we are missing a stronger focus on the needs of the economy and on where our expertise can have the greatest impact. We also need more practice in combining forces across academic disciplines to address the market’s most difficult challenges effectively,” says Jasiczak.

Jagiellonian University’s agenda also focuses on changing researchers’ approach.

“Through this project, we want to make our researchers more confident communicators and give them tools that will make it easier to engage with large companies. We want them not to be afraid of business challenges. And we want them to know that when a research challenge comes from business, there is also a clear process in place to facilitate cooperation—covering opportunities for collaboration, university policy, contract templates and so on,” says Gabriela Konopka-Cupiał, director of the CITTRU Technology Transfer Center at Jagiellonian University.

As the head of technology transfer at Jagiellonian University explains, it is impossible to devise a single standard that will work simultaneously for every university and every company. But it is possible to break new ground and map out pathways for cooperation, communication and mutual understanding.

“At Jagiellonian University, very few researchers engage in dialogue with business. Most do not understand it and are wary of it. But corporations also need to understand that, from a researcher’s perspective, worthwhile cooperation is not only about financial benefits. It also has to offer a degree of scientific excitement and academic value – such as inspiration for new research, publications and new research avenues,” Gabriela Konopka-Cupiał emphasizes.

Crystal clear

Jakub Jasiczak strongly emphasizes the transparency of the project. Every researcher is to have the opportunity to respond to a challenge announced by a corporation and build their own team. All opportunities will be visible and open. The model is intended to be the opposite of projects prepared behind closed doors, where it is known in advance who will receive the funding and with whom the project will be carried out. Workshops are planned with decision-makers from ministries in all eight countries participating in the project.

If the mechanism works, the biggest change will therefore not be a single company or patent. It will be a shift in the point at which business meets academia: from the end of the research process to its beginning. Polish science, meanwhile, will have the opportunity to become a place where major business partners jointly design the technologies and solutions they will need in the future.

Key Takeaways

1. A Polish model wins out. The EUIT consortium – led by Startova UMK and also including Jagiellonian University, partners from CEE, Denmark, Belgium and Malta – has won a Horizon Europe competition. Over the next two years, advocates of closer science-business cooperation will roll out across the EU the Polish EU Innovate Together model, which connects corporations with researchers to create international spin-offs aimed at the European market from the outset.
2. Reversing the logic of cooperation. Corporations are expected to bring their business challenges to researchers, help shape research agendas, test solutions and become their first customers. Researchers retain the IP and can build companies around the resulting technologies. VC funds are brought into the process earlier to provide business advice, while experienced managers are recruited to run startups instead of professors becoming CEOs. The plan is to secure the participation of at least 12 corporations.
3. Scale and a change in culture. So far, EUIT’s activities in Poland have persuaded 11 out of 52 large companies approached to establish R&D cooperation with researchers. The initiative also aims to change how scientists see their role: alongside basic research, they should be willing to respond to the needs of the economy. Success will therefore be measured not only by the number of new companies created jointly by researchers and business, but by establishing a durable pathway across Europe through which companies and academia can come together to conduct research jointly.