Empowering impact: From research to market-ready innovation at TU Vienna

The Technical University of Vienna is one of the leading technical universities in Europe. Whilst their researchers are world-class, there has been a desire to increase the impact of their research and focus the skills and knowledge of their researchers and students on creating new business. With the university having a distinct focus on technology, the challenge was to foster the same amount of enthusiasm in validating market interest as there was for achieving proof-of-concept.​

By offering a series of in-person workshops, the aim was to redefine the project from a technical challenge to a project attempting to achieve problem-solution fit, to create a clear process for them to follow and to make the researcher feel comfortable and empower throughout the process. The workshops have been run since 2019.​

Key topics included:​

• Entrepreneurial and spanning boundaries mindset​
• Market analysis and business strategy design​
• Value proposition, business model generation, customer discovery and prototyping​
• Asset and ecosystem mapping​
• Pitching your initiative / business idea​

We delivered three dynamic in-person workshops tailored for students, doctoral researchers, and early-stage academics, focusing on university-industry collaboration, innovation processes, and entrepreneurship. These workshops are intentionally designed to be interactive and hands-on, equipping participants with practical tools and strategies.​

Our action-oriented sessions empower researchers to confidently navigate the journey from research to real-world application. By engaging with market-aligned methodologies, participants gain the skills needed to refine their projects to meet industry demands. ​

By the end of the program, participants:​

• adopted an entrepreneurial and boundary-spanning mindset, equipping them to think innovatively and identify opportunities for collaboration and impact​
• gained the ability to conduct market analysis, design business strategies, and align their projects with industry needs to achieve problem-solution fit​
• are empowered to create value propositions, generate business models, and engage in customer discovery and prototyping to enhance the practical relevance of their initiatives​
• have ability to identify resources, networks, and stakeholders that support the translation of research into real-world applications​
• can effectively pitch their initiatives or business ideas, communicating value and potential impact to diverse audiences, including industry stakeholders​

The training has been one of the highest rating training modules run by the Innovation Centre and has supported the development of technology-driven new ventures at TU Vienna. Over 150 participants from TU Vienna have been through the training programs.​