At the core of the seminar was a hands-on workshop. Participants were randomly assigned to interdisciplinary groups, each of which selected a research project and worked through the typical early stages of commercialization. After a SWOT analysis, the groups presented their first ideas in an interim pitch. They then identified potential customers, contacted them through cold calls, and finally presented their business concepts in a final pitch followed by a Q&A session with the other seminar participants.
The workshop offered a valuable change of perspective from everyday research work. It encouraged the participants to think about practical applications of their scientific work, how their solution compares to what already exists on the market, and whether its advantages are strong enough to justify replacing established solutions. Another important lesson was finding the right people to talk to. Departments such as sales, marketing or HR, which are often the first point of contact at a company, are rarely the right place for a new technical idea. Instead, the groups had to identify the people who would actually be interested in their solution and able to assess it quickly, and figure out how to reach them, for example through company staff directories or professional networks such as LinkedIn. All in all, the workshop trained the participants in convincingly presenting an idea to potential customers, in the spirit of "sell me this pen."
We are especially pleased that the group of Ph.D. candidate Erfan Mehrabani won the award for the best pitch, as voted by the seminar participants.