ClearGate is a novel holistic Innovation Translation Ecosystem for Startups, Academia and Industry. Bridging the gap from Science to Impact!

Bio-Innovation Translation (BIT) Network

Brings together and helps match research groups and startups with industrial partners to accelerate the journey from discovery to implementation.

NPD
Academy

New Product Development Fundamentals education, workshops and training for applied research teams and entrepreneurs.

We Speak NPD!

Experts
Platform

Connecting innovators with verified multidisciplinary experts who speak the language of science and industry to support the journey from idea to market.

BIT Magazine

Editorial platform of the Bio-Innovation Translation (BIT) Network, showcasing breakthrough innovations, expert insights, funding opportunities, and industry perspectives.

ClearGate™ is a Bio-Innovation Translation Ecosystem, developed with input from multidisciplinary academic and industry experts, bridging the gap between scientific research and industry to turn promising discoveries into evidence-based products with real-world impact. Our approach is built around three core pillars:

– Speak the Same Language – NPD: Equipping researchers, founders and innovation teams with practical New Product Development knowledge, tools and frameworks.

– Find the Right Match – Curated Research–Industry Matching: Connecting promising research, startups and spinouts with relevant industry partners through expert-led evaluation and tailored matching.

– Bridge the Silos – Multidisciplinary Expertise: Bringing together scientific, technical, regulatory, IP, commercial and scale-up expertise to support innovation from research to market.

Who Joined us recently:

The “Valley of Death” in Research Translation

Europe has a strong scientific and research base, but many promising innovations still fail to reach the market.

Despite support from incubators, technology transfer offices, spinouts, and innovation programs, a major gap remains between research and commercialization. This stage, often called the “Valley of Death,” occurs when public funding decreases before enough private investment becomes available.

Many innovations struggle at this point because their real-world application, scalability, and market value have not yet been clearly demonstrated. As a result, development risk remains high, limiting industrial engagement, investment, and successful commercialization.

Figure: The “Valley of death” in innovation observed in bio-based product developments (adapted from Chirazi et al., 2019, Linton and Xu, 2021)

New “Post-Hype Era” for Startup and Spinoff Innovation

We are entering a new “post-hype” era of innovation, where startups face growing pressure to demonstrate real market value, scalability, and commercial viability. Following years of intense investment activity, investors are becoming more cautious and increasingly focused on evidence-based, customer-centric innovation with clear implementation potential.

In the bio-based innovation domain, many startups have struggled to translate promising concepts into sustainable businesses, highlighting the need for stronger validation, better product-market fit, and more practical commercialization strategies.

Our mission is to help innovators transform scientific ideas into real-world impact, differently...

Excellent science and promising ideas alone are often not enough to achieve successful commercialization and real-world impact.

Another conference, alliance or networking alone will not help bridge the innovation translation gap. Bridging the gap between research and industry needs one common language to enable effective communication and collaboration between research and industry.

We take a holistic approach to innovation translation by combining a shared language of New Product Development (NPD), expert-curated Innovator–Industry Matching, and access to multidisciplinary expertise. Together, these three elements help transform breakthrough ideas into commercially successful products. Its goal is to help researchers, startups, and innovation teams reduce development risk, improve industry engagement, and accelerate the transition from scientific discovery to real-world application.

About Founder and Managing Director

Dr. Aleksandra Szopinska has travelled across three worlds —academia, corporate industry and startups. She began her career at the University of Wroclaw, then the Belgian UCL, and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology before joining the Associated British Foods Group, where she led new product developments and also shaped and tailored NPD practices to enhance their effectiveness. She currently supports startups, spin-offs and research teams in their journey from idea to market. Through her experience, she has closely observed the gap between scientific innovation and successful commercialization. Addressing this gap has become her mission. The author believes that one of the missing pieces in solving the translation gap is the implementation of a common language — the language of New Product Development (NPD) — enabling scientists, innovators, and industry stakeholders to collaborate more effectively and transform innovation into market success. Through her work, she advocates for innovators in the bio-based products sector to become equal partners alongside industry, strengthening joined forces in the journey from ideas to products that benefit both people and the planet.

Our Global Innovation Translation Partners:

Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)

CPI is a deep tech innovation partner, helping companies turn high-risk ideas into scalable products and processes. CPI combines experts, facilities, partners and funding to help develop, prove, scale and de-risk new products and processes. Their comprehensive services are designed to address the critical challenges in bioprocess development and scale-up.

FoodEdge.

United by a shared vision of bridging the gap between science and industry, ClearGate and Food Edge. collaborate to accelerate innovation translation and turn scientific advances into evidence-based products with real-world impact.

Food Edge is an independent digital magazine covering food science, biotechnology, nutrition and innovation. It shares scientific insights, expert perspectives and industry developments, connecting researchers, innovators and businesses and helping bring emerging technologies and ideas closer to practical applications.

SMC+ Cambridge

SMC+ Cambridge exists to offer senior marketing guidance built specifically for founders turning deep science into a commercial narrative whether in a pitch, a partnership negotiation or a board meeting. Startup Marketing Clinic experts have spent their careers in marketing and communications across biotech, deep tech and agrifood tech. If your science is further ahead than your story, the SMC+ Cambridge can help. SMC+ is also a ClearGate partner in delivering the NPD Academy programme for founders and researchers.

What our members say?

"NPD Frameworks remind us that innovation needs discipline. Discipline gives bold ideas the chance to survive contact with reality."

Kiran Singh RajputFounder of Vegalaya