FAQ: S3E Start

See our Project at a Glance page.

S3E Start is a European program whose main objective is to train research teams and technology transfer officers (from southern Europe) in knowledge commercialisation, bridging the gap between the scientific-technological landscape and the market.

S3E is the perfect program for researchers who are looking to take their project, or even their embryonic enterprise, to a new level. Educating and making the teams understand the need to know how to structure themselves and enter the market.

S3E Start is an 18-weeks hands on training program that will be designed to include online classes (mainly on the topics related to the process used to guide the participating teams in the development of a business case for a product, service or process grounded on the proposed technology) and webinars (on diverse topics pertinent to the development of the relevant skills, e.g. intellectual property, financials, business development, venture funding). These in-class tutorials will account for less than half of the total workload of the program, the remaining time being allocated to group meetings facilitated by mentors. Each research team will be assigned at least one mentor. There will be deliverables to be fulfilled in between classes and these deliverables will guide the participants throughout the three phases of the process. The mentor will communicate with each project on a bi-weekly basis to overview the progress and provide advice.

Each research team will be assigned at least one mentor. The mentors present in the S3E edition are individuals who are somehow connected to the area of deep tech and entrepreneurship, and who are prepared to help teams solve problems that arise throughout the program. You can check the mentors on https://south3e.eu/community/#experts. 

The list will be updated until the call closes.

S3E Start emulates a real start-up experience and the set of deliverables to be completed each week provides common goals, language, and framework for the team action. Thus, the approach supports the participants in identifying business opportunities by matching technological capabilities to unmet (or ill-met) market needs.

S3E will target deep tech projects from the following science fields: agricultural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, and natural sciences. If you still have doubts, please check the full sub-categories here. 

The proposed projects must envisage to provide an impact in one (or more) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): No Poverty (SDG 1); Zero Hunger (SDG 2); Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5); Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6); Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7); Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8); Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9): Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10); Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11); Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12); Climate Action (SDG 13); Life below water (SDG 14); Life on land (SDG 15); Peace, justice and strong Institutions (SDG 16) and Partnership for the goals (SDG 17).

For the scope of S3E, Southern European countries include the following European countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Cyprus, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. And the following Associated countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.

The S3E Start team applicants may include 2 to 5 researchers, whereby one member of the team is designated as the Principal Applicant and the others as Co-Applicants.

All applications MUST be submitted via the F6S Platform (https://www.f6s.com/south3e-start-for-researchers/apply). If you are a researcher, you need to fill in the following information on the application form.

● Identification of the team members and R&D organizations (2-5 members)

● Description of the proposed technology and / or scientific discovery (in terms of what it does rather than the technical details on how it works),

● Description of what is the uniqueness and / or innovativeness of the proposed technology,

● The status of development and an outline of the main tasks required for the next stage of development,

● The scientific field of the project.

● The SDGs the project aims to address.

● IP status and

● A statement of the motivation of the team to participate. 

The TTO’s apply individually. All applications MUST be submitted via the F6S Platform (https://www.f6s.com/south3e-start-for-tech-transfer-offices/apply). If you are a technology transfer officer, you only need to fill in the following information on the application form.

● Identification of the individual and the R&D organization

● CV of the individual

● Letter of R&D organization supporting the application

● Motivation letter to participate in the program.

Submission to the Open Call #2 for Researchers and Technology Transfer Officers will be published on 18 September 2023 (12:00 CET) and the deadline for applications is 10 February 2024 at 17:00 CET.

The evaluation committee interviews & screening results announcement will take place between 12/01/2024 and 26/01/2024. The final decision on the research teams and TTOs that will be accepted will be announced on 26 January 2024. If you are accepted to the S3E Start, you will be expected to participate in the practical program, which will be conducted online from 2/6/2024 to 6/6/2024, ending with an Open Day online event.

English is the official language for S3E open calls. Submissions in any other language will not be evaluated. English is also the only official language throughout the implementation of the S3E Start Program. This means that all requested deliverables must be submitted in English to be eligible.

S3E Start does not involve any fees to participating teams because it is co-funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 European innovation ecosystems under the grant agreement ID: 101072135 (see here the Cordis fact sheet).

However, before you apply, you should bear in mind that there is a cost for organizing the Program and you need to assure us that you will have the time and willingness to fully participate in the S3E Start throughout its duration. There is a 'moral' penalty for teams that withdraw from the Program once it has started, which is related to the fact that you have left out another team that was willing to participate.

To support applicants, S3E Start will organise five Q&A Webinars on the following dates:

● 26th of September 2023 at 15:00 CET

● 31st of October 2023 at 15:00 CET

● 28th of November 2023 at 15:00 CET

● 19th of December 2023 at 15:00 CET

● 9th of January 2024 at 15:00 CET

Save your place at https://south3e.eu/ or https://www.eventbrite.es/e/717271316817.

Follow our social media accounts and subscribe to our newsletter if you want to stay tuned with this program.

No.

Research teams are considered eligible for S3E Start Open Call #2 if complying with ALL the following rules:

● Must be organised as a research team (2 to 5 team members), whereby one team member is designated as the Principal Applicant and the others as Co-Applicants. (Note: applications from individual researchers are not eligible).

● Have a deep tech project from the following science fields: agricultural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, and natural sciences. Please check the full categories here.

● The proposed project must envisage to provide an impact in one (or more) SDGs: No Poverty (SDG 1); Zero Hunger (SDG 2); Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5); Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6); Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7); Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8); Industry Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9): Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10); Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11); Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12); Climate Action (SDG 13); Life below water (SDG 14); Life on land (SDG 15); Peace, justice and strong Institutions (SDG 16) and Partnership for the goals (SDG 17).

● Belonging to R&D organizations from one (or more) of these countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.

Technology transfer officers are considered eligible for S3E Start Open Call #2 if complying with ALL the following rules:

● Must be an individual application supported by a R&D organization.

● Have, at least, three years of experience.

● Belonging to a technology transfer office of a R&D organization from one of these countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.

The criteria to rank the applications from research teams will include the:

● perceived “breadth” of the technology, i.e., the platform potential of the technology, and

● perceived “depth” of the technology, i.e., the unique features of the technology.

● motivation to participate in the training program and the entrepreneurial spirit of the team will also contribute to the applications ranking.

The criteria to rank the applications from technology transfer officers will include the:

● motivation to participate in the training program, namely mentioning how S3E Start could help their TTO to succeed in getting their discoveries into the market.

● geographic dispersion – meaning that S3E Start will try to cover all the southern European Countries so it is not expected to have more than two participants from the same country. 

The F6S platform will be the entry point for all proposals’ submissions to S3E Open Calls, which is directly linked from S3E website (https://south3e.eu/). Submissions received by any other channel and after the open call deadline will be automatically discarded.

No. S3E Start will be online.

On average, you should expect to invest between 4.5 and 7 hours a week over Program’s 18 weeks. Each week, you will have a 1.5-hour online training session which will lead up to that week’s deliverable that should take at most 3 hours to complete. Every fortnight you will also have a meeting of up to 90 minutes with your team’s mentor. Finally, on some weeks, we will give you the opportunity to attend a webinar with a specialist on one of the topics covered over the program (e.g., Technology Commercialisation, Intellectual property, Funding Opportunities, Cold calling, etc.)

The S3E Start program will not und any of the accepted projects. Despite this, we will invite a wide array of venture capitals and corporates to the open day where each team will pitch their deep tech project. We offer training, mentoring to help research teams build a well-grounded business case to bring scientific discoveries or meaningful engineering innovations from the lab to the market.

The S3E network builds on a strong group of researchers, entrepreneurs, business development specialists, top-tier managers, investors, among other profiles, that have participated in many programs hosted by the S3E Start team over the years.

By joining S3E Start, beyond the weekly training and the individual mentor and advisor, we will expose your project to many experts in your field of research. You can check the mentors on https://south3e.eu/community/#experts. The list will be updated until the call closes. 

Participation certificates will be awarded by completing the following criteria:

● Attending over 60% of the online sessions

● Attending and presenting at all three online pitch sessions

● Completing the Business Case

● Completing the final program assessment survey

Absolutely not. All the proposals are confidential, and each person involved in the program will sign and non-disclosure agreement, namely the reviewers of the proposals. S3E partners will act as Data Controllers of data submitted through the F6S platform for these purposes. The F6S platform’s system design and operational procedures ensure that data is managed in compliance with The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). Each applicant will accept the F6S terms to ensure coverage.

Please refer to https://www.f6s.com/privacy-policy to check F6S platform data privacy policy and security measures and to https://south3e.eu/privacy-policy/ to get informed about the S3E Start Privacy Policy.