IOCB TechTransfer Academy

Format

Bi-weekly workshops, on-site

Duration

20 hours over autumn 2026

Location

IOCB PhD Club (5th floor)

Language

English

Fee

Free for all IOCB staff

Cohort

20+ participants, pilot run

1. 0112 October 2026Problem-Solution Fit & Lean CanvasSpeakersRoberto Fernandez, Jiří Zhoř
   Content focus

   How to use business canvas, what is value proposition and how to present it to industry partner.

   Homework

   Draft several hypotheses about your research project that you would like to test throughout the course

   Speakers

   Roberto Fernandez, Jiří Zhoř

   Speaker bios ↓
2. 0226 October 2026Customer DiscoverySpeakersDaniel Marshall (online), Filip Plešinger
   Content focus

   Translate scientific value into commercial language — articulate research outputs as problems solved for specific customer segments, not features of a publication.

   Homework

   Redraft your hypotheses from accumulated evidence — using the interview data the participant now holds to define real segments. Redraft your two minute pitch accordingly

   Speakers

   Daniel Marshall (online), Filip Plešinger

   Speaker bios ↓
3. 032 November 2026Present to Industry PartnersSpeakersJulie Proft, Klára Šašková
   Content focus

   Experience and train in real pitch scenarios — perform under pressure, learn how to handle tough questions, and adapt the message to the audience.

   Homework

   Create a two minute pitch of your project to the general public – think of investors or partners who are not experts in your field

   Speakers

   Julie Proft, Klára Šašková

   Speaker bios ↓
4. 0423 November 2026Product Design and ValidationSpeakersDaniel Marshall, Steve Foster
   Content focus

   Engage industry partners as informed peers — understand industry drivers, negotiation levers, and decision metrics.

   Homework

   Prepare two to three different product – market fit solutions from your research project. Try to look for potential applications in fields/industries that may feel counterintuitive at first.

   Speakers

   Daniel Marshall, Steve Foster

   Speaker bios ↓
5. 0530 November 2026IP and StrategySpeakersKateřina Habelová, Ladislava Součková, Mikuláš Vargic
   Content focus

   How to leverage the intellectual property for the best possible commercial strategy

   Homework

   Draft simple IP strategy that your project may need. Think about timelines, costs and potential hurdles

   Speakers

   Kateřina Habelová, Ladislava Součková, Mikuláš Vargic

   Speaker bios ↓
6. 0614 December 2026Evidence SummarySpeakersJulie Proft, Karel Kubias, Roman Chaloupka, David Stíbal
   Content focus

   Short pitch-decks on scientific topic (3 min max).

   Homework

   No homework

   Speakers

   Julie Proft, Karel Kubias, Roman Chaloupka, David Stíbal

   Speaker bios ↓
7. 0711 January 2027Retrospective Feedback, Who is who and how we can helpSpeakersJulie Proft, David Stíbal, Karel Kubias, Milan Prášil, Katarína Pšenáková
   Content focus

   Designed to promote the internal services and additional programme modules

   Homework

   Write a summary of your project and retrospective assessment how the course changed it, provide feedback to organizers and also suggest what to do next.

   Speakers

   Julie Proft, David Stíbal, Karel Kubias, Milan Prášil, Katarína Pšenáková

   Speaker bios ↓

Any IOCB employee — PhD student, postdoc, or group leader, core facility or administrative staff.

• Roberto Fernandez AlvarezChief Operating Officer / Business Development, LAM-XRoberto Fernandez Alvarez is COO and business developer at LAM-X, where he leads product development of the company’s antimicrobial technology and shapes its future application pipeline. He works at the interface of nanomaterials science and commercialization, turning the spin-out’s light-activated nanofiber platform into market-ready medical products.
• Jiří ZhořIndependent innovation consultant; formerly JIC (South Moravian Innovation Centre), BrnoJiří Zhoř is an independent innovation and entrepreneurship consultant who previously designed and ran researcher- and student-facing entrepreneurship services at JIC, the South Moravian Innovation Centre in Brno, including its Ph.D. Academy “from research to business.” He co-founded the Rostutu vertical-farming venture and focuses on helping doctoral researchers make the transition from academia to business.
• Kateřina HabelováIP Associate, IOCB Tech; trained at the Industrial Property Training Institute of the Czech Industrial Property OfficeKateřina Habelová is a member of the IOCB Tech team, biochemist by training with commercial lab experience. Kateřina is working on the intellectual-property and technology-transfer side of moving IOCB research toward commercialization, especially in patenting and licensing.
• Ladislava SoučkováCzech and European Patent AttorneyLadislava, a Biochemistry graduate from Charles University in Prague, has a diverse background in research and intellectual property protection. With 9 years of experience as a research assistant at the Institute of Pharmacology, she concurrently pursued and successfully obtained her Ph.D. at Charles University. She then expanded her education to become a patent attorney. Ladislava has been dedicated to the field of IP protection in chemistry, working in specialized patent offices, commercial companies, and academic institutes.
• Mikuláš VargicProgramme author; Technology Transfer & IP attorney, IOCB TechMikuláš Vargic is the author of this programme and a technology-transfer and IP attorney with over a decade of experience helping academic spin-outs incorporate, raise investment, and navigate IP, regulatory and partnership challenges as they scale from lab to market.
• Steve Foster, MBA, RTTPDirector of Licensing, CSU STRATA (Colorado State University)Steve Foster is Director of Licensing at CSU STRATA, the technology-transfer organization of the Colorado State University System, where he has spent 15+ years commercializing university research. A Registered Technology Transfer Professional with an MBA and 13 prior years in R&D and corporate development at Amgen, he has executed roughly 350 licensing and related agreements, overseen 780+ patent filings, and helped launch dozens of CSU start-ups. He co-founded the annual CSU Demo Day innovation symposium.
• Julie ProftHead of Business Development & Project Management, IOCB TechJulie (Juliane) Proft leads business development and the project team at IOCB Tech, where she develops commercialization strategy for IOCB research and presents Czech projects to investors and partners at international events. Julie has decade long experience with technology transfer. She earned her Ph.D. at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) Riems, specialising in Mad Cow Disease. After gaining valuable experience as a postdoctoral fellow at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) in Calgary, Canada, Julie returned to Europe for another postdoc at IOCB in Prague.
• Klára Grantz ŠaškováCo-founder & Director, Adalid Sciences; group leader, IOCB Prague / Charles UniversityKlára Grantz Šašková is a biochemist who leads a research group at IOCB Prague and the Department of Genetics and Microbiology at Charles University, with earlier crystallography research at the University of Virginia. She is co-founder and director of Adalid Sciences, an IOCB spin-out developing next-generation “XMAN” lipid nanoparticles for the safe delivery of nucleic acids in gene medicine.
• DMDaniel MarshallProgram Manager of I-Corps Hub West at Venture Partners at CU BoulderDaniel Marshall is a Program Manager and Instructor for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Hub West at the University of Colorado Boulder. He supports researchers, entrepreneurs, and startup teams in advancing innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace through customer discovery, technology commercialization, and entrepreneurial training programs. Daniel also serves as a Fulbright Specialist, working with universities across the European Union to strengthen innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization ecosystems. His work focuses on building strategic partnerships, expanding opportunities for innovators, and accelerating the societal and economic impact of research.
• David StíbalVice Director, i&i PragueDavid Stíbal is director of i&i Prague, the biotech incubator and venture builder, where he evaluates the commercial potential of scientific projects and builds and manages start-ups through to commercialization. He studied at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Neuchâtel, and did postdoctoral research at MIT.
• Filip PlešingerFounder, VDI Technologies; group leader, Institute of Scientific Instruments, Czech Academy of Sciences (Brno)Filip Plešinger is a researcher-turned-entrepreneur who leads the Artificial Intelligence and Medical Technologies group at the Institute of Scientific Instruments of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Brno. He co-founded VDI Technologies, a MedTech spin-out commercializing UHF-ECG technology — a patented non-invasive method for mapping ventricular activation that has moved from the lab into operating rooms in Europe and other parts of the world.
• KKKarel KubiasDirector for Partnerships & Strategic Alliances, i&i Prague; Founding Partner, i&i Biotech FundKarel Kubias is Director for Partnerships and Strategic Alliances at i&i Prague and a founding partner of the i&i Biotech Fund, an early-stage life-science investment fund. An experienced life-science, chemical and pharmaceutical leader, he is a frequent speaker on the practice of successful technology transfer.
• Katarína PšenákováHead of Biology, PharmTheon (IOCB Tech translational research centre)Katarína Pšenáková is Head of Biology at PharmTheon, the translational research centre established by IOCB Tech and launched in 2024 to bridge scientific discovery and real-world healthcare. She represents the centre internationally, including in Czech biotech delegations at events such as BIO-Europe Spring.