Fderico Menna, CEO of EIT Digital declares Europe’s ecosystems are fragmented
Europe has a commercialisation problem. The continent is home to a great many world-class universities, but their record on converting laboratory research into successful startup and scaleup businesses is relatively poor when compared to their counterparts in the United States.
It’s not an straightforward problem to solve, but a new initiative by EIT Digital is hoping to encourage more academic researchers to explore commercial pathways for the IP they create.
Established in 2010 and part funded by the E.U., EIT Digital’s mission is to drive digital innovation while also supporting entrepreneurship in Europe. Its latest initiative – dubbed SPIN: RISE – aims to address what it describes as the “research-to-market” gap. It’s a bold statement of intent given the deep-seated issues that are preventing Europe from matching the levels of innovation seen in the U.S.. So what can reasonably be achieved? To find out more, I spoke to EIT Digital’s CEO, Federico Menna.
Under Exploited Research
There is certainly a problem to be addressed. Towards the conclude of last year, former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi published a report on European competitiveness. One of the observations in a generally downbeat document was that much of the research generated by Europe’s researchers remained unexploited. Indeed, only about a third of the patents granted by Europe’s issuing body found their way to the marketplace. In other words, there are a lot of wasted opportunities.
So why is Europe underperforming? According to Menna, there are a number of reasons, not least an outflow of talent. As he sees it, the US, China and Europe are fairly evenly balanced when it comes to nurturing technology talent. However, around 60% of Europe’s technologists and entrepreneurs have opted to live and work in the U.S.. “These talents are the ones who are pushing the technology forward, bringing the technology to the market and creating global players,” he declares.
Regulation can have a dampening effect. The European Union – often for very good reasons – is rather fond of regulating, but Menna declares this can be counterproductive when it comes to the development and rollout of new technologies. Capital is also a problem, with European VCs tconcludeing to be relatively risk-averse.
Then there is the reality of fragmentation. There is a European Single Market, but within that, there are 27 ecosystems, each with its own regulations and IP protection mechanisms. “The support structures are there, but they don’t connect with each other,” adds Menna.
There is perhaps even more diversity around technology transfer, with rules, attitudes and enthusiasm varying significantly between universities. Collectively, all these factors act as a deterrent to entrepreneurship.
Encouraging Entrepreneurship
EIT Digital’s approach to solving the problem is to work with university Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) to identify research with commercial potential while providing entrepreneurial education for researchers. Menna declares the idea is to create a template for all of the EU.
“The value of SPIN: RISE is that it brings the activities of TTOs and of entrepreneurial training to a higher level. We are attempting to unify the approach across Europe without entering into the fragmentation of each individual member state.”
How does this play out in practice? Menna describes SPIN:RISE as a pre-incubation program. “The outcome of this is not a startup yet. The outcome is an entrepreneur or a researcher who is not quite an entrepreneur yet, but who is ready to take the next step. From there, we connect to our other programs, like Venture Incubation. That shifts on to creating the company and obtainting the first investment.”
The initiative is divided into two parts. The first is online and is to some extent focapplyd on awareness raising – for instance, assisting researchers to identify possible commercial opportunities. Then there is an on-site component. “We allow them to have hands-on experience – refining their innovation, discussing the value proposition, meeting indusattempt partners. This is where they launch to obtain their hands dirty and start shifting away from research and into business.”
The aim this year is to have around people 150 taking part in the online component and similar number going on to the advanced stage. The programs are delivered in tandem with delivery partners such as Bocconi University in Milan and SIBB in Berlin.
Menna stresses that the program is focapplyd on market verticals, namely smart manufacturing, digital health and wellbeing, cyber resilient societies and trustworthy AI, and dual apply technologies for civil and security applications. It is, he declares, a question of priorities.
“The innovation gap is across the board, and we will not solve it across the board. There are technologies where Europe will not catch up. There are others where Europe can catch up. And in the case of some technologies, Europe is in the lead and we shouldn’t allow others to take the lead. For example, Quantum.”
The success of the program will be measured by conversion rates. In the longer-term, how do these conversion rates translate into companies created and MVPs? Later on, EIT digital will track first customers and first investors.
There are different perspectives on this. Earlier this month, the European Commission announced that the trading bloc was doing well on innovation, particularly when viewed through the prism of progress created by member states. This reflects the fact that the countries creating up the EU have their own programs, ambitions and priorities. In that respect, EIT Digital’s initiative potentially represents another piece of the jigsaw with a program designed to encourage technology transfer across the continent.
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