This individualised service supports EIC Pathfinder and Transition beneficiaries in answering the two questions that decide the future of an emerging technology: is it genuinely worth exploiting, and around which use and business case should it be built? It is designed for deep-tech teams, research consortia and spin-outs that own a breakthrough technology or concept but have not yet locked in the application, buyer and business model that will carry it from the lab towards the market. The service turns a complex commercialisation decision into an ordered, evidence-based path in which every assessment is backed by traceable sources and every figure carries its provenance and level of reliability. The guiding logic is first prove the technology, then validate the business case. The service is structured in four phases:

Phase 1

Technology Validation (is the technology genuinely superior and free to operate?): before any market is considered, the technology is assessed in itself. We map who already commands this technological space worldwide and where white space remains, benchmark the solution against the alternatives using only peer-reviewed scientific literature to establish where it is genuinely ahead, and run a core Freedom-to-Operate check to verify the technology can be used without infringing third-party patents. The outcome is a clear-eyed verdict on whether the technology is defensible and unencumbered — and on the risks to manage if it is not.

Phase 2

Use Case Generation & Selection (which applications and buyers are worth pursuing?): the same technology can open many markets. First we assess the business case proposed by the beneficiary. Then we generate a set of distinct, non-overlapping commercial directions, each pairing a concrete application domain with a precise buyer, and then select with the beneficiary the most promising avenues to validate in depth, while weaker options are parked for later reconsideration. This turns a vague “it could be useful to anyone” into a short list of testable, fundable use cases.

Phase 3

Use & Business Case Validation (does the business case hold up?): each selected use case is stress-tested across the dimensions that make or break commercialisation — whether the problem is real and painful enough for the buyer (validated against actual interviews), who genuinely makes the buying decision, whether the technical advantage translates into real euros for that buyer, how large and reachable the market is (total, serviceable and obtainable market across three scenarios), how the solution stands against incumbents and substitutes, the regulatory and certification path, and freedom to operate at the level of the specific application. Each dimension returns a scorecard of positive signals, risks and open questions — never an invented number, never a claim without a source.

Phase 4

Synthesis, Verdict & Exploitation Roadmap (which case to back, and what to do next?): the evidence from every dimension is drawn together into a defensible go / proceed-with-caution / stop verdict for each use case, converging on the option with the strongest risk-opportunity profile. The beneficiary receives a prioritised roadmap setting out the concrete next steps — validation gaps to close, pilot and partnership priorities, IP and regulatory actions — to move the chosen use and business case forward with confidence.

Activities are delivered by senior innovation and technology-transfer experts, who operate with our C-Tech Navigator® platform on the beneficiary’s behalf and translate its evidence into strategic judgement, through a combination of online working sessions, guided buyer interviews and desk research. At completion, beneficiaries receive a structured Use & Business Case Validation Report: a technology-readiness and Freedom-to-Operate assessment, a comparative evaluation of the candidate use cases, a fully sourced business-case dossier for the recommended option(s) — competitive positioning, market sizing, economics, regulation and IP — and a prioritised exploitation roadmap ready to present to a board, an investor or an EIC project review.