Ventures in Emerging & Critical Technologies for Aerospace & Robotics

• Deep-tech entrepreneurship
• Aerospace & robotics
• IP valorisation
• Lab-to-market
• Spinoff/venture creation

Deep-tech researchers at any career stage whose research shows potential for aerospace and/or robotics applications and alignment with EU strategic innovation priorities.

Online Learning (6 weeks) – Participants join weekly expert-led sessions and access the online training platform

Week 1 - IP and Valorisation: Introduction to the commercial potential of research results and providing a working understanding of IP protection strategies, including licensing and spin-off pathways. Governance structures and equity basics are covered to ensure participants can reason about organisational decisions at the earliest stages of technology development.

Week 2 - Open Innovation and Industry Engagement: Addressing how corporates engage with universities and early-stage ventures to access new technologies. Learning how to position research as a response to industrial needs, how to structure Proofs of Concept, and how to initiate early engagement with potential industry partners.

Week 3 - Customer Discovery: Bridging research outputs with market demand. Formulating testable hypotheses about users, problems, and value propositions, conducting structured interviews, and iterating based on evidence while utilizing the Business Model Canvas to connect value proposition to operational, financial, and organisational elements.

Week 4 - Market Analysis: Equipping participants with tools to map the EU market landscape for deep-tech, identify application areas across multiple use cases, assess competitive positioning, and analyse barriers to adoption including regulatory, technological, and commercial dimensions. Addressing the relationship between Technology Readiness Level and market entry readiness.

Week 5 - Pitching and Fundraising: Constructing a pitch deck that translates scientific complexity into a clear and investor-ready value narrative. Covering storytelling techniques specific to deep-tech contexts, value proposition articulation, and an overview of the funding landscape relevant to the target sectors, including EIC, ESA instruments, venture capital, and corporate venture capital.

Week 6 - Team Building and Growth Strategy: Addressing team composition, co-founding dynamics, and early organisational development. Examining the complementarity between researcher profiles and business co-founders, equity considerations, role definition for different scaling phases, and introducing OKR methodology, KPI design, funnel analysis, and agile management practices.

Mentoring – Throughout the online phase, participants receive tailored guidance, consolidate their business model canvas, and participate in 1:1 and clustered sessions to draft and test their pitches before the bootcamp.

Time commitment – The expected workload during the online programme is approximately 3–4 hours per week, including live sessions, independent work, and preparation of weekly deliverables.

In-Person Bootcamp (3 days, Turin)

• Assess the commercial potential of research results and select appropriate IP protection and valorisation strategies (licensing, spin-off, technology transfer).
• Understand Open Innovation mechanisms and how to position research as a solution to industrial needs, including structuring Proofs of Concept.
• Apply customer discovery and hypothesis validation methods to translate research into testable market assumptions.
• Use business modelling tools (Business Model Canvas) and prototyping approaches to define and test commercialisation pathways.
• Develop and deliver a structured pitch communicating the problem, solution, value proposition, and market pathway to investors, industry partners, and innovation programmes.