Eindhoven’s Brainport is a busy open innovation ecosystem resulting from close collaborations between multinational corporations, start-ups, knowledge institutes, and the government – making it one of the top innovation regions in Europe. The masterclass on 30 October will help participants pinpoint exactly where their own scaling challenge sits and opens a structured conversation about what to do next. It will describe the four readiness levels that determine whether a technology can scale into a resilient business, from the foundations that the company can control, directly to the forces that it can only navigate. These levels explain why many technically strong ventures stall – in what founders call ‘the valley of death’, the gap between developing a technology and scaling it commercially.
The RSM experts will unpack each level in detail, with examples that can be applied to scaling journeys right away.
The RSM faculty members and deep tech experts heading the masterclass are:
- Organisational readiness: Prof. Tom Mom, Professor of Strategic Growth and Implementation.
- Technology readiness: Dr Joseph Zekry, Founder and Director at Horizontech.
- Business readiness: Prof. Birgul Rose Arslan, Associate Professor of Innovation Strategy.
- Dr Niels Eldering, Head of Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation Services at the European Space Agency (ESA).
- Future readiness, Prof. Mirko Benischke, Professor of Strategic Leadership and Vice Dean of Education and Executive Education.
Identifying bottlenecks
Participants will assess their own commercial ventures to identify bottlenecks or hindrances, which will be covered in an interactive panel discussion to address organisation, technology, business and future readiness.
The masterclass will also include real examples of success and failure from the deep tech and semiconductor sector, and time to network with fellow scale-up leaders navigating similar deep tech and semiconductor challenges.
Making it work
Where technical hubs and ecosystems focus on building technology, RSM focuses on the issue of making it work in the real world and how people can use it to create wider value.
Prof. Benischke said: “Building great technology is one thing, but turning that into a successful, growing organisation is a different challenge altogether. As a school with strong roots in business and social sciences, we at RSM believe we can add a perspective that compliments the technological strength that’s already here. It’s about translating technological breakthroughs into successful businesses.
“The challenges faced here are not only technological,” he said. “They are about scaling organisations, leading diverse teams, making decisions in uncertain situations, and doing all of that in a responsible and sustainable way. This is exactly where we add value – by developing leaders who can navigate complexity, drive growth, and strengthen organisations where it matters most”.
Book your seat
The event is free, but seats are limited. To book a place, please register using the Eventbrite link here.
