‘Let’s team up to strengthen the innovation chain’

Anyone who wants to go to market with a promising academic invention can turn to various places for money and support. A frequently heard problem, however, is that the available services in the Netherlands are quite fragmented, and by no means known to everyone. ‘The innovation and valorization landscape would benefit from less segmentation and more cooperation.’

It often comes up in conversations with valorization experts and business developers at universities: how difficult it is to get an overall view of all the grants, accelerator programs and other support initiatives that seek to drive entrepreneurship from academia. There is quite a wide and diverse range, but it lacks interconnection and alignment. ‘Developing new programs in splendid isolation without looking at what already exists is rarely a good idea’, says, for example, director Jeroen van Woerden of startup platform The Gate in Eindhoven. Yet that is what he sees happening. At the same time, he notices that there is still a lot of unfamiliarity with valorization programs. ‘We all have an interest in better promotion. And in establishing relatively new initiatives, such as the Faculty of Impact, in a way that fits within the current landscape. We need to embark on that journey together, try to set up more collaboration and all put our energy into making this run smoothly.’

‘It’s a rather confusing jungle of possibilities and initiatives’

Less fragmentation

There are quite a few different programs and opportunities that partially overlap. Also because of this, candidates often do not really know what is going on and what is possible, both in terms of grants and available support. ‘Many of our people don’t really know at which stage they can call on which instruments when they start doing business, which regulations they have to deal with and which risks they are taking on’, says business developer Rosalie Driessen at Delft University of Technology. ‘Scientists in particular need help with this, as their primary focus is typically on their own research.’

Just like Van Woerden and Driessen from Eindhoven and Delft respectively, Moniek Tromp, professor of Material Chemistry at Groningen University and ‘battery figurehead’ of the Netherlands, also advocates for less fragmentation and more cooperation in the field of valorization. ‘It’s a rather confusing jungle of possibilities and initiatives’, Tromp says. ‘Within one university alone, there are all kinds of initiatives and committees working on it. And then you have competing regions and partially overlapping national programs. We need to take it up more collectively, strengthen each other instead of duplicating things.’ She sees opportunities to better link initiatives at individual universities to broader, national programs. ‘Personally, I think it would be good to look at the proper connections: who do we help internally and when do we put someone up for Faculty of Impact?’

Many questions

The importance of increasing awareness and making clear where the Faculty of Impact is located in the landscape is evident from the many questions received. A number of points on the specific value that Faculty of Impact brings, are mentioned in an addition to the frequently asked questions on this website. FOI’s core value is the risk reduction for researchers who want to start their own business by providing two years of salary while staying in their research environment. Also, FOI is the only nationwide program supported by all Dutch universities and open to researchers from all universities, universities of applied sciences, and research institutes, including medical centers. Next to financial support, FOI provides entrepreneurship training, and hands-on coaching – offering the researchers the time and resources to make a real transition from academia to business. Fellows who join the program don’t need to have an incorporated company or a team yet. Trainers and coaches help them develop their business case, refine their strategy, and build their venture step by step.

‘If we can set this up better within the entire innovation chain, we all win.’

Entire chain needed

Competing less and joining forces more, in short, is the route Van Woerden and others envision. ‘We all draw from the same purse of public money and we all want to show that we have added value. So whether you are working for a regional development company, for early-stage university valorization, for a publicly funded incubator, or at InvestNL: we are all in the same chain in which we work up an idea to a company in order to make an impact.’

For that is the ultimate goal all those parties are pursuing: that more innovations reach society. And you need the whole chain for that, both inside and outside academia. Continuously scouting internally for the good ideas. Helping those people move forward through the right programs, whether at the incubators, in an ideation or demonstrator lab, or in a program like the Faculty of Impact. Rosalie Driessen thinks it would benefit mutual engagement when providers occasionally visited each other’s programs. ‘For example, contact persons at the knowledge transfer offices (KTOs) could join their fellows in a part of the FOI program, if only for a few hours during one of the training sessions. That way, KTOs also learn from each other and from the program.’

Also, Van Woerden adds, dare to choose who fits best in which role. ‘If a scientist does not appear to be suitable to lead a company after all, we must above all ensure that someone with entrepreneurial skills comes along who can. And that those academics will still get their fair share, for example in a role as CTO or scientific advisor. If we can set this up better within the entire innovation chain, we all win.’

Further reading

• Frequently Asked Questions on Faculty of Impact
• Interview Jeroen van Woerden & Rosalie Driessen: ‘Startup success is also in our interest’
• Interview Moniek Tromp: ’If you have ambitions to be an entrepreneur: definitely do it!’