Market Opportunity Navigator for Innovators

Marc Gruber is a Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where he holds the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization. He also serves as Vice President for Innovation at EPFL and has been recognized as one of the most impactful scholars in entrepreneurship research. His work focuses on innovation, technology commercialization, and strategic management, with significant contributions to understanding how firms identify and exploit market opportunities.

Sharon Tal has established herself as a leading figure in entrepreneurship education and market strategy for technology startups. After completing her B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and M.Sc. in Strategic Management at the Technion, she earned her Ph.D. in Technology Entrepreneurship in 2013, conducting research on startup market entry decisions under the co-supervision of Prof. Marc Gruber at EPFL and Prof. Uzi de Haan at Technion. As co-founder and former Executive Director of the Technion Entrepreneurship Center, she developed extensive expertise in technology commercialization and startup development. She later served as a Visiting Scholar at EPFL from 2014 to 2017, where she co-developed the Market Opportunity Navigator with Marc Gruber. This framework helps entrepreneurs systematically identify, evaluate, and prioritize market opportunities for their innovations. Her work combines academic research with practical application, as evidenced by her co-authored book Where to Play and her regular workshops for students and startups. Beyond her academic contributions, she has significant industry experience, having worked as a marketing manager across various industries and as a strategy consultant, including roles at Knowledge Three and BEIC.