Imperial’s deep tech entrepreneurial environment: how do science ideas sell?

As students at a university that has long prided itself in its research and innovation, it is inevitable to ask ourselves throughout our degree how exciting breakthroughs materialise into products on the market. The business component of discovery is therefore paramount to its success, which Imperial reflects in its STEMB accreditation and distinctive entrepreneurial environment. To find out how Science and Business intersect at Imperial, Felix sat down with Imperial’s Entrepreneurship leaders and alumni who have turned their research into thriving ventures, exploring what it takes to bring a deep tech idea to market. 

The central dilemmas challenging deep tech start-ups

An Assistant Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Imperial Business School since 2019, Dr Tim Weiss leads research focusing on start-up ecosystems, especially regarding commercialisation in environments without an established business innovation roadmap. With a background including postdoctoral research at Stanford University, he brings a global, experienced perspective to the question of how science becomes a business.  

Imperial’s strength in research quality is largely driven by the depth of its available resources. It might therefore feel natural for the business ideas deriving from these breakthroughs to focus around the high-tech, “flashy” devices. But what are these devices worth if we don’t know who will buy them?  

Dr Weiss describes the relationship between top-grade innovations and their often undefined audiences as a core tension in deep tech entrepreneurship: “the main pitfall of science ideas in the business world is the hidden challenge of understanding who the customer is and what they would really want”.  

To characterise this audience, who whether through revenues or equity backings will be the source of the company’s financial success, Dr Weiss points to a concept coined by Google’s Alberto Savoia in 2009: the pretendotype. Also known as a pretotype, it refers to a simplified, low-cost version of a product that is used to validate market interest before large R&D investments: “If we build something like this, will you use it?”. While a prototype tests if something can be built, a pretotype tests if it should be. In deep tech, where research accuracy and perfection dominate, pretotyping offers an essential, balanced middle in early-stage development.  

When describing misconceptions in science entrepreneurships, Dr Weiss explains that the common notion of a business is not always the one that will apply. Deep tech ventures can challenge the classic “hockey-stick” business model that features make-or-break years: “Some science advancements take longer – and that’s okay”. 

In terms of Imperial’s resources, Dr Weiss has his clear pick of where to go at Imperial to push these types of conversations: the Enterprise Lab. From the proactive and inspirational mindset of the workforce to their ability to tap into student needs, Dr Weiss agrees it is the place to go for “start-up surgery”: deconstructing student’s ideas for improvement,  benefitting from new pairs of eyes and a myriad of useful tools and resources available. 

Untap Health Founder and CEO, Dr Claire Trant: pitching is the key to deep tech success

Founded in 2021, Untap Health is a health-tech company that provides automated wastewater monitoring for early pathogen detection in settings where a healthy environment is paramount, such as hospitals, senior living homes, and livestock operations. Offering a fast and accurate prevention system, Untap Health has been extensively recognised, including Best in British Tech Upstart Award at the GREAT GBx Gala 2024 and a feature in the 2026 Startups 100 Index.  

Dr Claire Trant is a clear example of how the right combination of hard work, technical skills, and business knowledge can lead to a successful venture. Joining Imperial for her Bachelor’s in Physics and completing an industrial PhD in collaboration with Rolls-Royce, her achievements including founding Untap Health led to her recognition in UKRI’s 2023 Top 50 Women in Innovation.  

When reflecting on her journey in science entrepreneurship, Dr Trant highlights storytelling as a skillset that is unexpectedly challenging. Beyond defining a customer and investor profile, she argues that convincing stakeholders is criminally underrated: “A good product does not immediately mean good money. It is telling the story well that earns capital”. Through Imperial’s own resources –  Business Horizons modules and the mini MBA programme among them – Dr Trant developed the business acuity her venture would come to rely on, marking these experiences as her main takeaway from her learning journey at Imperial.  

A good product does not immediately mean good money. It is telling the story well that earns capital.

Beyond academic knowledge, Imperial offers many challenges, incubators, and practical experiences to aid students in bringing their ideas to life. Dr Trant highlights the WE Innovate initiative within the Enterprise Lab, where Untap Health reached the final stage in 2021 and competed again in 2022. From networking opportunities that led to the venture raising more than £100,000 in seed funding, to improving public speaking skills by presenting to increasingly large crowds, Dr Trant spotlights the experience as a key turning point in Untap Health’s journey.

Vanadion Ltd’s Founder Dr Mohammad Dezashibi on taking clean energy from lab to market

Founded during Dr Mohammad Dezashibi’s time as a PhD researcher at Imperial, Vanadion Ltd is a clean-tech venture addressing the critical shortage and high cost of vanadium – a key mineral for the UK’s green energy transition. It is essential when producing high-strength, low-carbon steel, and compounds derived from it are catalysts in the production of sulphuric acid, widely used to manufacture fertilisers and other chemicals. Vanadium redox flow batteries use this element as the active component in its electrolytes, which provides an extended lifespan compared to those of of lithium-ion. 

By transforming industrial waste into a high-purity vanadium pentoxide and battery electrolytes at a low cost, Dr Dezashibi explains they are “hitting two targets at the same time”:  environmental waste management and the supply chain bottlenecks hindering large-scale storage.  

Moving from concept to company during his PhD and postdoctoral research required more than scientific insight. “The first step was validating the chemistry beyond the lab,” Dr Dezashibi says, stressing the importance of testing the process on real industrial feed-stocks. Alongside this, working with Imperial’s Enterprise team to protect intellectual property marked a key early milestone.  

Imperial’s ecosystem played a supporting role through funding and mentorship. Early grants, including a UKRI Impact Acceleration Account, and departmental seed funding enabled scaling up, while business coaching by the Chemical Engineering department helped refine Vanadion’s commercial direction.  

The transition to entrepreneurship, however, came with challenges. Dr Dezashibi describes the early stages as a process of “wearing all the hats at the same time,” balancing technical development with business responsibilities while overcoming scepticism around moving from academia into industry.  

Looking ahead, Vanadion is focused on reducing the cost of vanadium for redox flow batteries, with ambitions to grow into a broader energy-sector company. For Dr Dezashibi, progress ultimately comes down to the fundamentals: “If the technicals are sound, investors will come.”