The FINEST SCALEUP project highlights the entrepreneurs driving the Baltic Sea Region’s deep tech startup scene.
From science to startup: Neringa Šeperienė
A medical physicist from Lithuania, Neringa Šeperienė’s path to entrepreneurism didn’t start with a pitch deck. It started while working in an oncology hospital. Here she saw firsthand how the lack of real-world accurate patient data impacted the efficient use of brachytherapy, a type of internal radiation therapy.
This realisation not only inspired the idea for a data-driven, patient-centric approach to improve care – it set Neringa down a new career path.
Trading her scrubs for an entrepreneur’s hoodie, Neringa and several colleagues formed a medtech startup that would go on to launch BrachyDOSE, a unique hardware and software mixed system suited to prevent radiation-caused injuries during high-dose rate brachytherapy treatment.
Be willing to do the work
Talking about the process of going from science to startup and the challenges that go along with it, Neringa says that “progress comes from testing ideas, learning from mistakes, listening to feedback, and being willing to do the work”.
She also notes that even if a concept works in the lab, there’s no guarantee that it’s ready for the real world.
More often than not, manufacturing means redoing blueprints, concepts, and earlier work so that everything fits real requirements.
“What looks like a few months of work can become one, two, or three years, and what looks like a month-long task, or even just a few hours, can take three to five times longer,” says Neringa.
Founders don’t always start as founders
Neringa’s story is a reminder that founders don’t always begin as founders. Sometimes they start as scientists, medical physicists, engineers, or people working close enough to a real problem to understand why it matters. Then, step-by-step, they learn the business side, ask for feedback, work through regulations, adapt lab concepts to real-world requirements and keep solving what needs to be solved.
“To build something meaningful, you don’t need to start with all the answers,” concludes Neringa. “You need a real problem, curiosity, and the willingness to keep learning and doing the work.”
Did You Know?
FINEST SCALEUP doesn’t just want to build a deep tech innovation ecosystem across the Baltic Sea Region. We want that ecosystem to be inclusive.
That’s why we’ve made gender equality a cornerstone of the project.
You can learn more about our Gender Action Plan via the Digital Platform.
Deep tech by the numbers
According to WomenINvestEU, only 14% of deep-tech startup founders in Europe are women, and these ventures receive just 11.4% of the sector’s total funding.
