Recent years have witnessed an accelerated expansion in the European startup ecosystem, marked by a wave of innovative ventures stepping onto the global stage. Notably, deep tech startups are at the forefront, harnessing cutting-edge technologies and engineering to tackle pressing European challenges in digitalisation, sustainability, and reindustrialisation. However, these startups often face significant hurdles in bringing their technologies to market, including substantial capital needs and a complex interplay of technological and market risks that demand strategic management from investors.

Recognising the critical role patents play in deep tech innovation—not only for protecting investments but also for signalling value to potential backers—the European Patent Office (EPO) has developed through its Observatory of Patents and Technology the Deep Tech Finder tool. This tool enables companies, researchers, and investors to identify European universities, their spin-outs, and investment-ready startups with patent applications filed at the EPO. By tapping into the EPO’s extensive patent expertise, the tool provides actionable insights into science-driven inventions and ventures poised to bring new technologies to the European and global markets, as well as enabling users to identify investors already active in specific technological fields.

Recent years have witnessed an accelerated expansion in the European startup ecosystem, marked by a wave of innovative ventures stepping onto the global stage. Notably, deep tech startups are at the forefront, harnessing cutting-edge technologies and engineering to tackle pressing European challenges in digitalisation, sustainability, and reindustrialisation. However, these startups often face significant hurdles in bringing their technologies to market, including substantial capital needs and a complex interplay of technological and market risks that demand strategic management from investors.

Recognising the critical role patents play in deep tech innovation—not only for protecting investments but also for signalling value to potential backers—the European Patent Office (EPO) has developed through its Observatory of Patents and Technology the Deep Tech Finder tool. This tool enables companies, researchers, and investors to identify European universities, their spin-outs, and investment-ready startups with patent applications filed at the EPO. By tapping into the EPO’s extensive patent expertise, the tool provides actionable insights into science-driven inventions and ventures poised to bring new technologies to the European and global markets, as well as enabling users to identify investors already active in specific technological fields.

Leveraging EHESO microdata for comprehensive coverage

The EPO’s Deep Tech Finder features startups identified through a meticulous cross-referencing of data from Dealroom—a global data platform known for its intelligence on startups—with the EPO’s registry of patent applicants. A similar approach was employed for European universities, matching the EPO’s European Patent Register to institutions listed in the European Higher Education Sector Observatory (EHESO) Microdata, resulting in a dataset of around 900 featured universities.

Beyond supporting the Deep Tech Finder, EHESO serves as a key European data infrastructure for evidence-based higher education policy and research. This collaboration demonstrates how high-quality higher education data can support innovation policy objectives and strengthen links between research, entrepreneurship, and investment ecosystems across Europe.

EHESO microdata played a pivotal role in ensuring the depth and reliability of university-level data within the Deep Tech Finder. In particular, the availability of unique institutional identifiers enables the EPO to accurately match university names across countries and datasets. This strengthened the representation of universities’ patenting activities and enhanced the visibility of their contribution to Europe’s innovation landscape. 

University spin-outs—startups in which universities hold equity stakes or have licensing and royalty agreements—were defined using Dealroom criteria. To enhance the utility of the tool, the EPO enriched the patent data, facilitating searches based on technological fields with specialised queries developed by EPO examiners. 
In addition, entities not yet included in the Deep Tech Finder can request to be featured by submitting their information via a dedicated form, helping to further enrich the tool’s coverage and visibility.

A resource for investors and innovators

The EPO’s Deep Tech Finder stands as a testament to the importance of reliable data and collaboration in supporting Europe’s deep tech ecosystem. By integrating EHESO microdata with other trusted sources and enriching the results with EPO’s patent expertise, the tool equips investors and business partners with the information needed to identify and assess promising technology ventures.

This capability is essential for fostering innovation and enabling impactful investments that can propel Europe’s deep tech advancements to new heights. Complementary analytical insights are available via the EPO’s Data Desk, where a dedicated dashboard allow users to compare the performance of deep tech startups versus other startup segments across Europe or via EPO’s The Tech Fingerprint LinkedIn newsletter.

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