ASTP Annual Conference 2026

Curiosity-driven or designed for impact? How early should researchers start thinking strategically about spin-offs?

Curiosity-driven research remains a vital and legitimate tradition, where pathways to societal or economic impact may not always be immediately visible. Yet it raises an important question: when should researchers begin thinking strategically about impact through a spin-off, and are they currently doing so sufficiently? Should this mindset apply only to applied research, or should it also influence fundamental research?

We often meet researchers who aspire to create a spin-off based on their work, only to realise that key opportunities for commercialisation were missed along the way. Many later say, “I wish I had known earlier!” – referring to how the timing of publications, public–private partnerships, and intellectual property considerations can shape the potential for impact through the spin-off pathway.

In light of recent discussions on Europe’s strategic autonomy, we will explore when and how a spin-off strategy should enter the research process. How far does the responsibility of Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs) extend in raising awareness and supporting researchers in making more strategic choices? Which instruments, tools, and best practices are in our toolbox to strengthen spin-off potential and contribute to technological sovereignty?

Join us to exchange experiences and best practices with fellow ASTP members and explore how we can help researchers weigh up and navigate spin-off creation in a changing world order.

Cracking Industry–Academia Research Collaborations in the Life Sciences

Europe is a global powerhouse in biotech and pharma, yet much of the innovation feeding its pipelines originates elsewhere. In an increasingly competitive global landscape, strengthening Europe’s ability to translate academic research into industrial innovation is critical for both impact and sovereignty. Knowledge Transfer Offices across the continent have a key role to play in improving this.

This workshop brings together experts from leading European research organizations, biotech companies, and legal firms to share their experience and practical insights on how to successfully set up, negotiate, and manage sponsored-research and joint research agreements, with a focus on therapeutics.

The session will deliver actionable best practices to accelerate the transfer of academic discoveries into the European life sciences industry.

Moderator: David Silvestre

Across Europe, research valorisation systems are under pressure to deliver greater economic, social, and strategic impact. Many European countries, regardless of their level of innovation (e.g. Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland) are coordinating systemic innovation reforms across multiple levels to strengthen resilience and proactive management of global shifts, including deglobalisation pressures.

While currently engaged in structural reforms and capacity-building for innovation, in line with debates and changes across the continent, Romania has proudly announced its first Unicorn (i.e. UiPath) and is nurturing its four, five Soonicorns (i.e. Druid AI, Dexory, FintechOS, Bitdefender). In this effervescent time, Romanian universities, together with public and private organisations, face an innovative strategic opportunity: rather than improving barely efficient processes, to co-design an intelligent, coherent, national innovation ecosystem a functionally embedded into European innovation ecosystem.

This workshop uses some of the successful innovation stories in Romania to discuss how innovation performance in widening countries can be optimised - not through trial and error, but through the implementation of functionally validated innovation mechanisms. It is about how regional innovation ecosystems can use strategic leapfrogging to move from “catching up” to effective embeddedness within the European innovation ecosystem, thereby ensuring their efficiency and resilience of emerging innovation ecosystems to the deglobalization process.

Key questions of the workshop:

1. Where to Start Shifting Catching Up to Smart Leapfrogging: local, regional, national?

2. How to Bridge the Valley of Death: How to Fund, De-risk and Scale Research-Based Innovations to Better Connect Regional Innovation Ecosystems in All of Europe?

3. Is Leapfrogging the Magic Formula for Catalysing Innovation From Open Innovation to Patent Licensing and from Spin-Offs to Scale-Ups in Emerging Markets?

Together, experienced invited panellists and specialised attendees will scrutinise “leapfrog innovation” as a possible validated approach to more efficiently embedding the regional innovation ecosystems in emerging innovation countries into the EU Innovation Ecosystem.

From Moonshot to Workflow - AI for Knowledge Transfer

AI is rapidly reshaping Knowledge Transfer — but how do you move from interest to impact? In this interactive workshop, the SIG AI4KT invites KT professionals, decision-makers and budget holders to explore how AI can be meaningfully embedded in KT practice. The session starts with defining a bold moonshot, followed by a problem-based group challenge on how to get started with AI in KT. Participants work across perspectives and conclude with a panel discussion that connects vision to implementation. Participants leave with a practical AI-enabled KT workflow and and compelling arguments to align stakeholders, leadership and budgets. Those further advanced in AI implementation can continue the journey within the SIG.

Moderators: Brechtje Vreenegoor and Nestor Rodriguez

This workshop will introduce the various aspects of knowledge transfer, answer some key questions and provide a solid understanding of what success can look like. Take this opportunity to get to know your peers, extend your network and learn from seasoned professionals.

Facilitator: Karen Laigaard

We are pleased to invite you to an interactive workshop that builds upon the discussions initiated at the 2024 Annual Conference in Sevilla. This workshop offers participants the opportunity to further explore critical challenges in knowledge transfer related to software and digital innovation.

Further details will be shared soon.

In this practical, hands-on session, we’ll work on actual cases from SHAPE/SSHA disciplines, explore their impact potential, and discuss different valorisation approaches. 

In 2023, the European Commission recommended to make KTOs fit for standardisations. Hence, the aim of this session is to equip KTO professionals with a deeper understanding of the role of standards in driving impact, fostering collaboration beyond research and innovation. Through engaging stories, interactive discussions, and practical examples, participants will explore how standardisation can enhance Knowledge Valorisation.

Participants will also gain access to practical tools, learning resources, and opportunities developed through European projects such as IAM4RE and EDU4Standards, all designed to support the effective implementation of standardisation.

Facilitators

• Katrin Fladischer (TTO, University of Graz)

• Ivana Mijatovic (Full Professor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade)

• Gunilla Clancy (Innovation Advisor, Research, Innovation and Collaboration Support, Chalmers Operations Support, Chalmers University of Technology)

• Sara Martos ( ASTP EU project manager)

KT Managers (you) occupy a strange position in their universities. You can often be very close - almost colleagues - to the academics who you serve and who provide your ‘dealflow’ (in the form of useful technologies to take to market).

Yet you act ultimately on behalf of the universities that employ you who will often sign off on potentially large deals based on your advice and ‘due diligence’.

Moreover, you are also on the front line with third parties (businesses and venture investors) who invest in technologies (ones that you have nurtured) with the ultimate aim of making a commercial return on that investment.

95%+ of the time interests are fully aligned (post deal anyway) and there are no issues. However, very occasionally, the KT manager (you!) becomes aware of information that could conceivably result in loss of reputation or litigation. Often this happens after a deal has been signed and in ways not anticipated by the contract.

You will need to decide whether to intervene and how!

Almost always you will be tempted to do nothing on the basis that either:

• The chances of the problem crystallising are vanishingly small.
• It is someone else’s problem
• The information that you have is rumour or unsubstantiated.
• You fear ‘rocking the boat’ especially where senior academics or commercial interests are involved.

In this Masterclass, Jeff Skinner describes some of the bigger ‘moral dilemmas’ that he’s encountered or observed in his 40 years in Knowledge Transfer. He puts you in his position and asks what you would do or the advice you would give to his younger self at the time.

Of course, the easiest answer in almost every case is to ‘escalate’ to a higher authority or roll in the lawyers. We will avoid such easy answers by delving more deeply into the consequences of doing nothing.

Facilitator: Jeff Skinner

Protecting inventions and moving them from the lab to the market is a resource‑intensive activity in any KTO/TTO.

This session explores how KTOs/TTOs can strengthen their own role in the patenting process to ensure real value for money. We will look at what needs to be in place internally — from efficient administration and institutional policies to commercialisation strategies and communication practices — and how these elements shape the quality, cost, and impact of your patent attorney’s work.

Speaker:    Pernille Winding Gojkovic
Moderator: George Summerfield

Securing a partnership with a major multinational is a gold standard for any KT office, but the path is often blocked by complex hierarchies, culture clashes, and rigid legal departments. Theory can only take you so far. To close these deals, you need to practise the art of the pivot.

In this hands-on workshop, we will move from the lecture hall to the negotiation table. Instead of just discussing strategy, we will work through real-world scenarios to simulate the friction of corporate deal-making. You will practice identifying and empowering your internal champion, navigating sudden corporate delays, and dismantling the typical deal breakers. Come prepared to participate, role play specific challenges, and refine your negotiation toolkit in real time.

Speakers: Artal Moreno and Anabel Sanz

In Europe, investors deploy less than 2% of overall capital to all-women founding teams. In the UK, only 13% of active spin‑outs are founded or co‑founded by a woman or a mixed‑gender team. Too often, women pitch to all‑male panels and face a well‑documented gender gap in access to early‑stage funding. Really? Unfortunately, yes.

Europe urgently needs talented minds to translate world‑class research into new ventures. Inequality in innovation is not only a diversity issue — it is a competitiveness issue.

This session will explore the barriers facing women in entrepreneurship and spin‑out creation, from structural biases to investment practices. More importantly, we will discuss what KTOs, investors, and institutions can do to build a genuinely inclusive innovation system.

Speaker: Simonetta Manfredi and Dewi Van De Vyver

Leveraging AI to generate industry collaborations for research funding and licensing. During this presentation you will learn how to use AI to identify the market applications, companies and contacts that are most aligned to partner with your research.
For more information please visit firstignite.com

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For more information, visit www.tradespace.io

For academic institutions and government agencies to forward-thinking corporations bringing products to market. Wellspring is the premier innovation and IP management partner that bridges the gap between research and commercialization, activating opportunities and driving growth. We deliver solutions that simplify complex processes, from initial discovery to market success, giving our customers the ability to innovate more effectively and efficiently. To learn more about Wellspring and its suite of innovation technology products, please visit wellspring.com to check out the new brand and innovation stories that transform tomorrow.

In the evolving world of knowledge transfer, competitive value is often locked in "non-patented assets" like biological materials, software, and industrial know-how. This session explores strategic frameworks for managing and commercializing intellectual property outside the patent system, focusing on Plant Variety Rights and Trade Secrets.

The panel will discuss the choice between formal registration and confidential know-how, using examples from the agricultural and software sectors. Experts will address licensing practicalities, legal safeguards, and the challenges of enforcing non-disclosed rights. Attendees will learn how a diversified IP strategy maximizes both societal impact and commercial returns for academic and research institutions.

Speakers: Anastasia Tsagkarakou and Anders Aune

Spin-outs are frequently hailed as the "gold standard," but whether you are dealing with a patent or deep expert know-how, a new company isn't always the right vessel. This session tackles the critical fork in the road for any KTO: deciding between a licensing deal and a new venture. 

Rather than applying a rigid formula, we will explore the complex trade-offs involved, debating the weight of factors such as team readiness, technology/service potential, and market appetite. Join us for a discussion on how to look beyond the hype and manage researcher expectations, ensuring the chosen route is the one that actually maximises impact.

Speaker: Michael Karle and Anette Poulsen Miltoft

Should we simply wait for scientists to knock on our door with inventions to disclose? Or is it far more rewarding to help our young researchers develop their entrepreneurial skills and become our future innovators?

In this session, we will learn more about three different programmes that help scientists recognise the potential commercial or societal impact of their research, communicate this impact to a wider, non-scientific audience, identify the right partners to develop their ideas further, and find appropriate sources of funding to support this journey.

Speakers: Clara Conrad-Billroth and Mikkel Sorensen

In an increasingly complex geopolitical context, universities and research organisations are challenged to find the right balance between openness, innovation, and security. How can we uphold the principles of Open Science while ensuring that research results are protected, responsibly managed, and translated into societal and economic value? This session will explore strategies for aligning open research practices with IP management and technology transfer objectives, while also addressing research security considerations such as dual-use, export control, and strategic autonomy. Through discussion and shared experiences, we will examine practical approaches to operationalising the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary, as secure as possible” to strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity and safeguard its strategic interests.

Speakers: Julia Priess-Buchheit, Beatrice Kornelis and Steven Tan
Moderator: Alessandra Baccigotti

In this session, we will address the question of how research institutions can support their spin-offs through founder-friendly licensing and shareholding terms, while remaining compliant with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

An expert will outline the potential legal, financial, and governance consequences of overly favourable licensing or equity arrangements—both for the research institution and for the spin-off company itself.

Building on this introduction, a panel discussion will explore which contractual terms are feasible in practice and where the boundaries lie between supportive conditions and unacceptable risk.

Moderator: Florian Kirschenhofer

European technology transfer offices (TTOs/KTOs) operate under a wide variety of models — centralised, decentralised, embedded, outsourced, hybrid, and everything in between.

This session explores how different organisational designs shape performance, researcher engagement and commercialisation outcomes. We will look at the strengths and limitations of various approaches, from university-integrated offices to regional consortia and national level agencies, and discuss how structure influences strategy, activities, incentives, and impact.

Is there such a thing as “the ideal model”?

Speakers: Fabrice Lefebvre,  Renato Calzone and Alexandra Petcu 

This panel explores the unique challenges of transferring software-based innovation, focusing on how to identify and capture value in complex projects where technology, products, data, AI, and know-how are closely intertwined. It will address the management of background inputs such as prior research, collaborations, open-source software, and AI models, as well as software transfer issues beyond traditional ICT fields, including bioinformatics, SSH/SHAPE, and dual-use technologies.
The discussion will also consider emerging regulatory pressures and key deal terms, particularly those governing derivative works and the ongoing evolution of software-based technologies.

Speakers: John Whelan and Rita Lopes

Moderator: Malcolm Bain

The days of relying solely on discretionary, bilateral MTAs are numbered. As EU Data Spaces introduce mandatory, standardised frameworks for sharing data, the traditional KTO role of "gatekeeper" is rapidly eroding. If industry can access our data through EU-wide repositories rather than individual negotiations, are we at risk of becoming raw material providers, absorbing the costs of curation while others capture the downstream value?

This session moves beyond the compliance headache to the strategic opportunity. We will explore the roadmap for the Data Spaces rollout, focusing on how to pivot from mere Data Transfer Agreements to assessing the economic and societal worth of data and know-how. Join us to discuss ecosystem orchestration and new business models that ensure a fair return on the significant investment required to prepare and curate high-quality data.

Speaker: Marcelo Estrella

KE/KT professionals deal with a huge number of stakeholders and it is impossible to make them all happy all of the time and to perfectly balance the myriad of interests

BUT what happens when any of them become REALLY unhappy. When one complains to another and points the finger at you?

How do you deal with it?

This session looks at situations in which KE/KT professionals have found themselves dealing with the pressure from stakeholders. What do you do? How do you cope?

Most importantly, how do you navigate toward the best possible outcome whilst maintaining your professional integrity?

We have a panel of individuals who have experienced that pressure and who will tell us how they coped with it and how they resolved it.

Speakers : Anders Haugland, Ruth Herzog  and David McBeth
Moderator: Kevin Cullen