Webinar Series: From Research to Development – Paths to Cross the Valley of Death in Life Sciences

Europe’s Innovation Gap

In European research institutions, the pipeline from research to commercialisation is weak. Europe holds a strong position in fundamental research and patenting, accounting for 17% of global patent applications in 2021, compared to 21% for the US and 25% for China. But much of that knowledge remains commercially unexploited: according to the European Patent Office, only one-third of the patented inventions registered by European research institutions are commercially exploited. Moreover, US start-ups derive more benefit from ERC-funded research than European entities. 

Spin-offs: Not Always the Answer

Currently, much of the public debate centres on the creation of start-ups and academic spin-offs. There is an ever-increasing pressure on European KTOs to spin more companies out of research labs. A recent report suggested that European universities could create more than 327,000 additional start-ups in the next ten years.

Yet creating academic spin-offs in Europe faces specific challenges, including:

• Fragmented regulatory and reimbursement landscape
• Scarcity of venture capital and growth-stage funding
• Lack of entrepreneurial culture and incentives
• Difficulty assembling competent founding teams
• Institutional bureaucracy and slow decision-making
• Limited incubation, acceleration, and mentoring opportunities
• Unclear internal rules and guidelines
• High risk aversion

Despite these challenges, spin-off creation is often treated as a one-size-fits-all model. The why is just as important as the how: not every research project should become a spin-off. The crucial role of KTOs is to determine whether projects should be incorporated into a new company or further matured.

Crossing the Valley of Death

Typically, research projects with commercial potential detected by KTOs are at TRL3–4 and CRL1–2 stages. If the decision is to further mature the project rather than create a spin-off, both KTOs and researchers face the “Valley of Death.”

In this valley, projects move from describing a new tool or process into commercial development and prototype validation. The dramatic name is given because costs increase significantly alongside risk of failure. The aim is no longer to publish but to reach commercial viability — meaning unsuccessful attempts often lead to a dead end. Public funding to cross it is scarce and industry see these projects as too high risk, given the level of maturity.

Most research projects with potential die here not for scientific, medical, or commercial reasons, but for lack of resources, financial, human, and structural.

Causes Behind the Valley of Death

The causes are multidimensional and include:

• Highly fragmented research and innovation landscape
• Under-resourced knowledge transfer offices (KTOs)
• Weak and unclear incentives for academic researchers
• Risk aversion at research institutions
• Underdeveloped or highly competitive translational funding schemes
• Public funding focused on basic research rather than technology maturation

About the Webinar Series

In this webinar series, we will showcase existing private, public, and hybrid models in Europe that support projects in crossing the Valley of Death in biomedical research. The series aims to create awareness within our community about these tools, helping us to cross this valley faster, more frequently, and with better outputs.

This webinar series is sponsored by UCB.

Programme: Save the Dates

30 September 2025 | The Venture Builder Model: turning IP into impact

Speaker: Ankita Das, Senior Venture Development Associate at NLC Health Ventures, Netherlands, Senior Venture Development Associate at NLC Health Ventures, Netherlands

28 October 2025 | The KHAN/w4i/LDC ecosystem: collaborative drug discovery and commercialization with academic innovators in Europe

Speakers: Peter Nussbaumer, Partner, KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I/II GmbH & Co KG, Germany, and Gernot Faustmann, Knowledge Transfer Officer & Director of Communication and Transfer in the Cluster of Excellence MetAGE, University of Graz, Austria

25 November 2025 | EIT Health supports – crossing the valley of death

Speaker: Shona D’Arcy, Entrepreneurship Lead at EIT Health, Ireland

16 December 2025 | Industry open innovation programs for collaboration with academia

Speakers: Jiri Keirsse, Head of Innovation Strategy & Public Private Partnerships at UCB, Belgium, and Toshal Patel, Head of Scouting and Partnering at UCB, Belgium

27 January 2026 | ERICs as innovation gateways: strategies for translating academic research into biomedical applications

Speakers: Cansu Tekin, Innovation Manager, EATRIS-ERIC, Germany, and Bahne Stechmann, Deputy Director, EU-OPENSCREEN, German