From research to venture: VITO heads to Slush 2026

On 18 and 19 November, Helsinki will host Slush 2026, one of the world’s leading events for founders, investors and technology leaders, bringing together more than 12.000 attendees and facilitating an expected 25.000 meetings. 

Bridging the deep-tech valley of death 

Europe does not lack scientific excellence. The bigger challenge is translating that excellence into scalable companies, technologies and solutions. This is where Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) such as VITO have an important role to play. Deep-tech innovations often require significant technological development, infrastructure, capital and time before they are ready for commercial deployment. This creates the well-known valley of death: the difficult space between promising research and a technology that has been sufficiently validated and de-risked to attract customers and private investment. 

RTOs operate precisely in this space. With a public mandate to create societal and economic impact and drive innovation, VITO develops emerging technologies beyond the laboratory, validates their potential and works with companies, entrepreneurs and investors to create pathways towards the market.

“Great technology alone does not build great companies. It takes entrepreneurial talent, the right partnerships and the ambition to turn innovation into real-world solutions. At VITO, we want to bring these elements together to create businesses that can scale and make a lasting impact.”

Inge Neven, CEO VITO

Where research meets entrepreneurship

This year, Slush is putting an explicit spotlight on research commercialisation through its new Spinout Track. The programme was created to connect research-driven teams with investors and help turn discoveries into companies. Its flagship Science to Scale activity brings pre-spinout research projects together with deep-tech investors, while the European Spinout Forum convenes technology transfer offices, universities and research institutes to tackle challenges around research commercialisation.

With this forum, Slush creates a place where science, entrepreneurship and capital meet, exactly the intersection where promising deep-tech ventures are born.

Steff Taelman, health researcher from VITO, will take part in this new Spinout Track to further develop the spinout concept CROWN. CROWN will help medical AI innovators accelerate the complex journey from research to patient by making better use of health data, testing technologies with synthetic data, and substantiating medical claims. It will support innovators from PhD to CE marking, with the goal of bringing more promising medical AI solutions to patients.

Discover the Slush Spinout Track

Meet the Belgian ecosystem during Slush Week 

Some of the most valuable conversations at Slush happen beyond the main stages. 

Together with FIT, Hub.brussels, AWEX, imec.istart, city of Ghent and the beacon, VITO will bring together the tech innovation community during two side events:

Belgian Icebreaker Drinks to Kick Off Slush – 17 November 

Start Slush Week by connecting with Belgian founders, investors, researchers and ecosystem partners in Helsinki. 

Register for the Belgian Icebreaker Drinks → 

Belgian Beer Night - 18 November 

More information and registration details will follow soon.