VFT programme at the University of Gothenburg 2025

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the VFT program at Göteborgs Universitet is to test and develop knowledge-intensive, deep-tech ideas from the university, towards the ultimate goal of becoming concrete solutions for a sustainable societal transformation. The goal of the verification carried out within VFT is that the ideas either mature and are substantiated enough to be transferred and applied outside of academia, sometimes via a next-level support actor, or to quickly realize that they do not hold up.

Expected effects and result

After project completion, many of the ideas are expected to have received feedback from the market and initiated collaboration with external actors. Several will have formed companies, most of them through an incubator, and received soft funds as well as private investment. Some will have been applied in the market, but many will only have begun a long path of technical and business verification towards an applicable solution, which is the nature of knowledge-intensive and deep-tech ideas.

Planned approach and implementation

Each idea and innovator has access to an innovation advisor from the innovation office or a business developer from GU Ventures as an advisor and coach. Verification activities are carried out iteratively, and between each decision to fund a new activity, a panel consisting of innovation advisors and business developers is involved to provide experience-based input to the verification plans for the ideas. Activities are tailored for each idea and are mainly carried out by external consultants.