Start-Ups in the Deep-Tech Ecosystem

In the current technological scenario, scholars have identified two main groups of technologies: deep-tech and shallow-tech. While shallow tech emphasizes leveraging technology to innovate business models, deep tech is defined as the next frontier, as it leads to significant technological advancements to address societal, environmental, and economic challenges. The convergence of deep and shallow tech can effectively support a green shift, providing a new perspective to the so-called twin transition. Deep-tech requires a multidisciplinary approach to innovation, involving niche yet disrupting fields like future farming, biodiversity, space economy, and quantum computing. Deep tech is one of the next frontiers in business. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to: • Understand and define the concept of deep-tech and the opportunities for the development of products and/or services, including technology scouting; • Understand the new venture creation related to products and services in the deep-tech domain, including the potential business models and their features, • Understand the venture-building processes that may follow. In particular, the following phases connected to potential start-ups should be analyzed: • Scouting of ideas and definition of a start-up project proposal through a first business plan; • Incubation; • Acceleration, once a prototype is obtained and/or the first stakeholders’ feedback is reached; • Technical translation from a lab scale to a production scale (scaling up) • Fundraising.