A 2022 study by Schelhorn and Herbs, published in Beyond Discovery: Moving Academic Research to the Market (Oxford University Press), found that more researchers than ever are application-driven. They want to see their work make a difference: improving lives, influencing industries, and shaping how society uses science.
This shift is especially strong among researchers earlier in their careers. More and more are asking: What’s next for my research, beyond the lab?
In the second part of our series, The Researcher’s Guide to Entrepreneurship, we explore what those “next steps” might look like. Together with technology transfer experts Alyssa Kirst and Jo Teichmann, we highlight the ways researchers can bring their ideas to market and considerations needed with every path.
1. Through Corporate Partnerships: Working with industry
Not every technology is predestined to be commercialised by founding a startup. One of the most common ways to translate scientific research into applied use cases is by working with corporate partners. In these collaborations, a corporate partner often takes the lead on commercialization because it already has the resources, network, and market access.
As such, you can focus on your research while still seeing your innovation be translated into the world, or this could be an opportunity to familarize yourself with the business world, without stepping into a founder role.
There are two ways this happens:
Licensing
Licensing is the lowest-touch way to commercialise your work. Here, you (or your institution) allow another party to use your intellectual property in exchange for payment or royalties. To be able to license something, it needs to be patented.
It’s a great option if your technology is already technically mature and you prefer to stay on the research side rather than running a business.
Joint ventures
When a research project has potential for further development beyond the lab, forming a joint venture can be one way to take it forward. This means creating a new company co-owned by partners who want to work together to commercialise a technology.
For example, an institution like Fraunhofer HHI typically contributes as a research partner with technical know-how and resources. An industry partner often brings market access and business expertise. Sometimes, a joint venture could be the next step after an initial research collaboration between research and industry players. If several partners want to keep developing a promising result together, they may decide to form a company around it.
In these setups, each stakeholder contributes something different: technical expertise, market know-how, or funding. Two important things here are clear agreements and long-term vision alignment between partners.
For joint ventures, especially those stemming from consortia, be conscious of documenting ownership from the start.
— Alyssa Kirst
Without that clarity, things can get complicated fast. Take the Cyprotex v. University of Sheffield (2004) case: Researchers and industry sponsors jointly developed a drug-simulation software, but because the collaboration agreement didn’t clearly define who owned what, there were issues once the project showed commercial potential.
The lesson? Negotiate and document early, even before the research turns into something valuable.
2. Building your own business: The startup path
When considering this path, it is important to note that there are conditions that suggest you should build your own business. The table below shows factors to consider when making the choice of founding your own business or working with corporate partners.
| Factors to consider | Commercialization through corporate partnerships | Commercialization by building your own business |
|---|---|---|
| Expected Return on Investment (ROI) | Usually yields lower and steadier returns, sometimes through royalties or milestone payments. | Potential for high returns but higher risk and may take longer to see first returns. |
| Market structure | Your technology can fit within existing businesses or be integrated into an existing company’s value chain. | Requires building a new market or exploiting untapped potential. Often involves creating new processes for implementation. |
| Technical complexity | The technology is too niche and could be more efficient to work with an existing company. For instance, updating an algorithm | The technology is broad enough to form the basis of a new company. For instance, a platform |
| Capital requirements | Low to moderate especially in the case of licensing or generally not risky, since it is a subsidiary of an industrial firm. | High — requires significant investment, team building, and operational setup. |
| IP protection | Value lies in protected IP (patents, designs) and monetising IP rights. | Value often comes from execution, speed, and being the first to act. |
| Scalability | Can scale through existing channels, minimal new team required. | Requires a dedicated team to scale operations and grow the business. |
As discussed in the first article of this series, there are two types of business. Some business are small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) while others are high growth startups. Both have their own rhythm, risk level, and reward. To fully understand both, it helps to revisit the three guiding pillars of assessing the startup potential of your technology or idea:
- Desirability (do people want it?)
- Feasibility (can you build it?)
- Viability (should you build it?)
When building a joint venture, these pillars of assessment are split between the partners. Often times, the research partner is primarily responsible for assessing feasibility. Meanwhile, when building your own business, the assessment of all pillars are done by you (and your co-founders, if any).
Small or Medium Businesses (SMBs)
SMBs are steady-growth businesses with project-based business models, an inherently small or divided target market, and limited cost advantages of increased production (economies of scale).
They tend to need less capital, smaller teams, and little to no external investors when compared to high-growth startups. SMBs can be particularly rewarding if you prefer working based on projects and closely with clients. Some examples of SMBs are:
- A niche B2B consultancy
- A data analytics firm built on proprietary algorithms
- A small engineering company building custom applications
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Not all businesses that end up being SMBs start out with that objective. Rather, many may start with the plan to build a high-growth startup, but ultimately get stuck in the customisation or project trap i.e. continuously developing customised solutions for clients, rather than a single, scalable product.
If every paid project feels like a custom one-off, pause and ask yourself:
“What’s your long-term vision, and are these projects helping us get there?”
High-Growth Startups
High-growth startups are the bold, high-commitment, and high-risk path. These ventures are designed to grow fast addressing markets that are large and growing.
They typically involve:
- External, equity-based investment (like Venture Capital)
- Scalable systems that can grow faster than costs (think automation or platforms)
- A willingness to navigate high risk for potentially high reward on the part of the founders
For a deeper dive into high-growth startups, check out our previous article!
The table below shows which factors to consider when evaluating consider each startup path.
| Factor | Small or Medium Business (SMB) | High-Growth Startup |
|---|---|---|
| Market Type | Niche or fragmented market or specific customer segment with high need for customization | Large or fast-growing market with broad applicability |
| Business Model | Often service-based or customised product | Scalable, product- or platform-based |
| Growth Pattern | Linear – scaling closely tied to resource scaling (e.g.: employee time) | Exponential – growth not directly tied to resource cost or effort |
| Capital Needs | Low to moderate; often without external risk equity | High; usually requires external investment |
| Ownership | Founders frequently retain full or majority control | Equity shared with investors and early employees |
| Risk Propensity | Moderate risk, moderate reward | High risk, high reward |
| Founder Profile | Hands-on, technically focused, enjoys project work | Visionary, strategic, comfortable with uncertainty |
| Example Fit | Research consultancy, specialist lab, custom engineering firm | Deep-tech startup, software platform, biotech venture |
🎯 Commercialisation isn’t one-size-fits-all. Whether you decide to partner with a corporate institution or build something yourself, the goal is the same: to see your research create real-world impact.
The question you need to answer is now:
Which path is best suited for me and how can I start this process?
Insights from
Head of Startup Incubation, Silicon Allee at Fraunhofer HHI
Venture Builder, Silicon Allee at Fraunhofer HHI
Silicon Allee is the startup department embedded inside Fraunhofer HHI, Germany’s leading institute for AI, photonics, and telecoms. We work at the intersection of research and entrepreneurship by supporting internal researchers spinning out their work and external founders building with Fraunhofer technologies. Through our Talent Network, people can express interest in joining early-stage startups from our portfolio.
How to get involved.
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