In episode #242 of The Grant – the EU funding podcast, I take you with me to Copenhagen for an in-person recording with Lise Pape, founder of Walk With Path. Lise’s entrepreneurial journey began partly through the experience of her father’s Parkinson’s disease and has developed over more than a decade of R&D, clinical validation and product development. Walk With Path now develops connected wearable technology, including a sensor-based insole designed to monitor mobility and support applications such as diabetic foot care, gait analysis and rehabilitation. But this is also a story about funding. Lise explains how the company moved from smaller grants to a major €2.3 million SME Instrument award, a €1 million Horizon mobility prize and participation in several European projects, including THCS and Eurostars. We discuss when to use external funding expertise, how a team of only five people manages involvement in six to eight funded projects alongside commercial activities, the support available through the Copenhagen EU Office, and the challenge of gradually shifting the company’s centre of gravity from funded R&D towards the market.

Time codes:

00:00 Arrival in Copenhagen

05:47 Guest introduction and fly in

08:22 The Company and the Story Behind

16:35 Experience with Funded Projects

39:12 Help and Support

44:40 What Have You Learned?

49:47 Future

52:33 Reflections and The Toughest Challenge