From Lab to Leadership: Lessons in Building R&D Teams That Deliver
In the world of innovation, some of the most impactful technologies never leave the lab. Not because they aren’t brilliant—but because managing the transition from research to real-world application is notoriously complex. Scientists, engineers, and technologists are often trained to explore the unknown. But when the time comes to lead teams, commercialize discoveries, and navigate organizational dynamics, they frequently find themselves without a map.
In a recent podcast, Orestis Georgiou shared his own journey through this transformation—from theoretical mathematics to engineering, then to managing and scaling R&D labs in both corporate and startup settings. Along the way, he made plenty of mistakes, faced hard truths, and discovered a few principles that continue to guide how he builds and leads innovation teams today.
Here are some of the most important lessons he’s learned:
1. Interdisciplinary Teams Are Powerful—But Fragile
When Orestis began building the R&D team at Ultraleap, they brought together an incredibly diverse group: physicists, psychologists, UX designers, computer scientists, and acousticians. While the potential for breakthrough innovation was enormous, communication quickly became the bottleneck. Each discipline spoke its own language—literally and conceptually.
The fix? They built a shared internal language. Glossaries, onboarding guides, internal Wikis—these may seem trivial, but they formed the cultural infrastructure that allowed people to work together effectively. Cross-disciplinary fluency isn’t a luxury—it’s a prerequisite for innovation.
2. Not All Clever People Work for You
One of the most powerful realizations Orestis had early on was that real innovation rarely comes from inside a single lab. To tap into the full potential of their technology, they launched an academic partnership program with labs around the world.
What began as a bureaucratic nightmare eventually evolved into a frictionless collaboration engine—once they replaced 20-page legal agreements with 2-page mutual understanding frameworks. The results? Faster adoption, unexpected use cases, and strategic partnerships that helped fuel their commercialization roadmap.
Innovation isn’t just about building something new. It’s about building the ecosystem around it.
3. Kill Your Darlings. Kindly.
Every R&D manager eventually faces the hardest decision: when to kill a project.
Engineers and scientists often pour months—if not years—into problems they love. But technical elegance doesn’t always align with commercial viability. Sometimes, the hardest and most interesting problem simply isn’t the one worth solving.
As a leader, Orestis believes in being honest but also empathetic. If a project must be shut down, offer a soft landing. Provide a new direction, give time to explore, and most importantly—recognize the emotional investment people make in their work.
4. You Can’t Lead What You Don’t Understand
Many R&D managers are promoted into leadership roles without formal training. That was Orestis’ path too. What helped him succeed wasn’t just what he learned from management books or courses (though they have their place). It was the technical credibility he brought to the table.
When leaders understand their team’s challenges—the messy tradeoffs, the iterative dead-ends, the thrill of solving the unsolvable—they earn their team’s trust. And with trust comes momentum.
Leadership in R&D isn’t about command and control. It’s about direction and belief.
Final Thought
The world needs more R&D leaders who can bridge the gap between science and business, between ideas and impact. If you’re stepping into that role—or want to sharpen your edge—you’re not alone.
That’s exactly why Orestis and his co-authors wrote their new book:
R&D Management and Technology Commercialization: Practical Concepts, Innovation, and Case Studies.
It’s packed with real-world insights, frameworks, and lessons learned the hard way—so others don’t have to.
Ready to level up your R&D leadership?
Buy the book or get in touch to collaborate, invite the authors to speak, or join one of their upcoming workshops.