Educational session #2: Tackling challenges faced by EIC innovators in their journey from the Lab to the Market
December 18, 2025
The second EIC ACCESS+ educational session, “Tackling the challenges faced by EIC innovators on their journey from lab to market”, offered EIC innovators insights into the best practices for transforming breakthrough science into investable businesses. The session was organised in collaboration with the EIC Ecosystem Partnership Programme and delivered by the EIC Ecosystem Partner Fitter for Purpose, represented by co-founders Michael Rivers and Renzo Pellandini.
Moving from laboratory validation to market adoption remains one of the most complex phases for deep-tech innovators. Beyond technological readiness, teams must navigate manufacturing constraints, commercial uncertainty, team dynamics, market reality and investor expectations. These challenges are particularly acute for projects operating between TRL 4 and TRL 7.
The online session held on 11 December, was delivered Fitter for Purpose, an organisation specialising in strengthening execution, team dynamics, and evidence-based decision-making for science-driven innovation, represented by co-founders Michael Rivers and Renzo Pellandini. During the session they provided a structured and evidence-based framework to help innovators diagnose where they struggle in their lab-to-market journey, and how to prioritise the right type of support to move forward more effectively. Drawing on extensive experience working with science-driven teams, the speakers emphasised that technical excellence alone is not sufficient: investors and customers do not buy science, but rather a credible story they can believe in and a team they can trust to deliver it.
Discover insights and learning points from the session:
Participants explored a set of foundational challenges commonly encountered by deep-tech innovators, alongside practical tools to address them:
- Why scientific brilliance often fails to translate into commercial success
- The “translation gap” between technical expertise and market understanding
- Aligning Technology Readiness (TRL), Manufacturing Readiness (MRL) and Commercial Readiness (CRL) to reduce investment risk
- Understanding how to navigate the “Valley of Death” (TRL 4-7) as an engineering and commercial gap, not only a funding one
- Avoiding the trap of building technically perfect solutions for problems that are not validated in the market
- How to conduct more effective customer discovery and generate actionable insights
- What makes a “buyable story”: grounding narratives in evidence, proof, and market reality
- The role of team power in execution, trust, and long-term scalability
- Using structured decision points to guide initiative progression from discovery to scale
The presentation used in the educational session is available by clicking the link here.
By helping innovators better understand what they have, what they lack, and what evidence is still missing, the session reinforced the core objective of the EIC ACCESS+ Educational Sessions: enabling more focused, efficient, and impactful engagement with the European innovation ecosystem.
About Fitter for Purpose
Fitter for Purpose supports founders, teams, coaches, mentors, and investors involved in early-stage innovation, with a clear mission: to uprate execution and increase the likelihood that teams deliver on the promise of their ideas. Their approach integrates three core elements (people, process, and progress) using a common language of customer value.
By strengthening team dynamics, enabling disciplined, evidence-based execution, and providing transparent tools to guide and monitor progress, Fitter for Purpose helps teams uncover customer value more effectively and deliver more investable outcomes, both in terms of the product and the team behind it.
About the Educational Sessions
The EIC ACCESS+ educational sessions are part of a broader effort to offer a practical and value-driven format to help EIC Awardees and Seal of Excellence holders navigate their most common challenges. Each session is led by experienced EIC Ecosystem Partners who share use cases, expert guidance, and actionable tools drawn from their service offerings. The aim is to help beneficiaries better understand the specialised support available within the EIC Service Catalogue, make informed decisions based on their needs and maturity level, and build meaningful connections supported by the EIC ACCESS+ initiative.
If you are interested in learning more about EIC ACCESS+ initiatives, we invite you to join our matchmaking and info sessions or watch the recording of the previous educational session: