Erik Engellau (Norrsken Launcher): How To Commercialize Science

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🌊 How To Commercialize Science

Why Europe’s world-class research rarely becomes global companies, and how to fix it.

We’re joined by Erik Engellau-Nilsson, Founder of Norrsken Launcher and former CEO of the Norrsken Foundation, one of Europe’s most influential platforms for impact-driven entrepreneurship.

In this episode, we dive into why most science never leaves the lab, and unpack what it really takes to turn deep tech and climate breakthroughs into scalable, profitable companies. From cap tables and commercialization risk to why the VC model fails scientists, Erik shares a brutally honest view of what’s broken and what actually works.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why great science gets stuck in universities

→ The cultural gap between scientists and company builders

→ Norrsken Launcher’s hands-on model: fewer bets, deeper ownership

→ Why Europe produces world-class science, but not world-class companies

→ Clean cap tables, IP ownership, and the “teacher’s exemption.”

→ Strategic investors: accelerator or hidden landmine?

→ Why “patient capital” is often the wrong answer

→ How to build climate and deep tech companies that actually scale