Most deep tech research never reaches the market.
We change that.

We engage the market directly, validate customer pains and build the commercial evidence that changes what research teams are able to do next.

Where research meets the real world

Most commercialisation support stops at the report. We go further: directly engaging the market, surfacing the real issues, challenges and opportunities and building the evidence that unlocks funding, commercial deployment and spin-out creation.

Customer Discovery

Structured engagement with industry to validate real problem severity, demand and willingness to pay, before you build.

Commercialisation Feasibility

Investigating and stress-testing assumptions around customers, value and adoption pathways to build an evidence-based commercial case.

Routes to Market

Defining the right commercial model (spin-out, licensing or partnership) and building the case for each.

Lean Start-Up Training

Practical, intensive workshops on value proposition, business model canvas, market engagement and pitching for research teams and founders.

Funding & Investment Readiness

Preparing teams for national commercialisation funding, investor engagement and commercial deployment.

Spin-Out Support

Building the commercialisation pipeline from feasibility through to spin-out creation, securing first paying customers and supporting early commercial deployment.

A structured path from research to spin-out to scaling

Understand the Research

Deep engagement to understand the innovation and its potential.

Map the Assumptions

Determine the critical assumptions across desirability, viability and feasibility before engaging the market.

Customer Discovery

Direct engagement with stakeholders to test assumptions and uncover real pain points.

Build the Case

Develop commercially credible evidence supporting funding, investment or partnership conversations.

Support the Journey

Continue to support teams through funding, investment, spin-out creation and early commercial deployment.


The right partner to make things happen.

We work with research teams, TTOs and early-stage founders who are serious about getting their technology out of the lab and into the real world.

University Research Teams

Researchers with strong technical results who need structured support to understand commercial potential and pathways to market.

Technology Transfer Offices

TTO teams looking to build commercialisation pipelines, increase feasibility grant applications and progress technologies toward spin-out or licensing.

Early-Stage Founders

Deep tech founders who are serious about translating a technical edge into a commercially credible and fundable business.

Funding Programme Sponsors

Agencies and bodies delivering commercialisation programmes who need experienced, hands-on delivery partners.

Trusted by leading universities, agencies & industry

Maynooth University
ATU
Chalmers University
Dublin City University
DkIT
Enterprise Ireland
InterTradeIreland
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Luleå University of Technology
Lund University
Munster Technological University
Queen's University Belfast
RCSI
Roche Diagnostics
SETU
Trinity College Dublin
Teagasc
Transport for Ireland
TU Dublin
Technological University of the Shannon
University College Cork
Ulster University
University of Galway
VERUS Precision

In their own words

“

VARA’s Kieran Fegan is one of the strongest commercialisation consultants I have worked with. He has a rare ability to engage deeply with industry and uncover honest, commercially meaningful insights. This feedback helps shape credible routes to market for emerging technologies. Combined with his delivery of lean start-up training, it makes VARA an exceptional partner for universities serious about research commercialisation and spin-out creation.

Paddy O’Boyle
Director of Business Development, ICT — DCU Innovate
“

VARA uncovered fantastic insights from multinationals we hadn’t previously engaged with, ensured full problem-solution alignment for our product concept, and helped us secure significant R&D innovation funding. We continue working with VARA and have no hesitation in recommending them.

Andrew Hodson
Managing Director — Verus Metrology Partners
“

Over the years I have worked with VARA Innovation Specialists across a number of ADAPT Centre commercialisation and feasibility projects spanning AI and deep tech spinouts. Kieran is highly effective at identifying real commercial opportunities, securing meaningful industry conversations and helping teams move towards genuine customer validation. He brings strong business development instincts and has been a valuable support to several projects and ventures emerging from the ADAPT ecosystem.

Conor McNally
Startup Development Manager — ADAPT Centre, Trinity College Dublin
“

VARA Innovation Specialists was part of the team that delivered a highly engaging, evidence-based entrepreneurship programme through the SPiRiT pilot in Sweden. Kieran’s combination of structured bootcamp delivery and ongoing customer discovery guidance gave our research teams a genuine step change in how they think about and engage with the market to validate the market need for their technologies.

Kent Mrozek & Fredrik Edman
LTU Business AB & Lund University Innovation
“

VARA drove demand for commercialisation support at the Technological University Dublin through excellent lean start-up workshops, and supported our teams from feasibility right through to spin-out formation. TU Dublin Innovation’s commercialisation metrics have increased in recent years, and VARA’s contribution to that has been substantial.

Dr. Paul Maguire
Head of Innovation & Knowledge Transfer — TU Dublin Innovation

A sample of recent projects

Every project below involved direct industry engagement, structured customer discovery and the development of a commercially credible case. These are not desk exercises.

TU DublinSpin-Out Support

TU Dublin Commercialisation Pipeline

Currently engaged as Spin-Out Support Consultant to build TU Dublin's commercialisation pipeline. Running workshops that consistently bring 10–15 researchers into the room, with pipeline demand more than doubling since engagement began.

✓ Substantially exceeded Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding targets
DCURenewable Energy

Aero Energy Array: Novel Wind Energy System

Supported a DCU team developing a modular wind energy generation system designed to integrate with existing infrastructure and deliver scalable, low-cost renewable power.

✓ Awarded Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding
Trinity College DublinAI / Leadership

AI-Powered Leadership Decision-Making Tool

Conducted a Commercialisation Feasibility for Emeritus Professor Ian Robertson on an AI project addressing emotional confidence and leadership decision-making through personalised feedback and behavioural insight.

✓ Awarded Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding
TCD / LearnovateAI / Corporate Governance

AI Platform for Corporate Integrity & Ethical Behaviour Management

Conducted a Commercialisation Fund Feasibility for Trinity College Dublin's Business School / Learnovate Centre on an AI project addressing integrity management, personalised training needs and the consequences of unethical behaviour, for large corporates.

✓ Awarded Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding
University of GalwayAI / Data

Unstructured Text Intelligence Platform

Conducted Commercialisation Feasibility on an AI platform extracting rich, actionable insight from unstructured text data: complaints, surveys, internal communications and more.

✓ Awarded Research Ireland ARC Hub for ICT Funding
TUSMaterials / Sustainability

Natural Polymer-Free Adhesives & Textile Depolymerisation

Conducted two Commercialisation Feasibilities for Technological University of the Shannon, covering natural polymer-free adhesives and depolymerising post-consumer clothing.

✓ Both projects awarded EI Commercialisation POC Funding
Sweden / VinnovaSPiRiT Programme

SPiRiT Programme Pilot: Five Swedish Universities

Part of the team that developed and delivered Sweden's first evidence-based entrepreneurship pilot programme for Swedish university researchers in 2025, covering value proposition, business model canvas, market engagement and investment pitching with ongoing support throughout the researcher customer discovery journeys.

✓ Positively evaluated; Vinnova mainstreaming across all Swedish Universities
MTU NimbusEnergy

Smart Energy Controller

Conducted Commercialisation Feasibility on a smart energy controller integrating time-of-use pricing, onsite energy generation and storage to optimise energy costs.

✓ Awarded Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding

The numbers tell part of the story

Across projects and programmes in Ireland, the UK, Sweden and Germany, with universities, research teams and founders doing work that matters. A track record that speaks for itself.

50+
Universities and research institutions supported
350+
Research teams trained across UK, Ireland, Germany & Sweden
€30M+
funding secured by client teams
2,000+
Customer discovery conversations had on behalf of clients

Our work spans a wide range of deep tech and research-intensive sectors:

Energy Engineering ICT & AI Sustainability Food & AgriTech Infrastructure Enterprise Software Advanced Materials Smart Manufacturing Digital Health CleanTech MedTech Circular Economy

Doing the work most consultancies won't

VARA goes where most consultancies don't: directly to the market, speaking with the people whose problems research is trying to solve. That means real conversations, real data and the kind of commercial evidence that changes what research teams are able to do next.

VARA Innovation Specialists was founded by Kieran Fegan, an engineering graduate of the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast, with a background spanning engineering design, business start-up, business development, innovation management and technology transfer.

VARA's work is now exclusively focused on supporting the commercialisation of deep tech research. We proactively engage the market, identify and speak with real industry stakeholders and surface the evidence that unlocks funding, spin-outs and commercial deployment. We also train researchers how to map their own assumptions and support them on their customer discovery journey to identify and validate their own technology's market need and associated considerations.

We are a trusted delivery partner to university technology transfer offices, national funding agencies and commercialisation programmes across Ireland, the UK, Sweden, Germany and beyond.

"Customers don't care about your research; they only care about their own problems. Our job is to help you understand potential customers' problems extremely well."

Kieran Fegan, VARA Innovation Specialists
Kieran Fegan, VARA Innovation Specialists

Kieran Fegan

VARA Innovation Specialists

Strategyzer Academy certified

Ready to talk about your research?

Whether you're a researcher with a promising technology, a TTO building your pipeline, or a founder working to bring something genuinely new to market. We'd like to hear from you.

We work with people who are serious about translating research into real-world impact. If that's you, get in touch.

VARA Innovation Specialists Limited, Malahide, Co Dublin, Ireland  ·  Registered number 733114