PhD to Startup: How the PhD Excellence Program sparked DeltaSpark

While completing their PhD at EPFL, Luc Bondaz in carbon capture in Chemical Engineering (EDCH) at LAS Lab and Suhas Nuggehalli Sampathkumar in water electrolysis in Energy (EDEY) at GEM Lab, both felt the same pull: a desire to grow beyond technical excellence.

The PhD Excellence Program brings together a diverse cohort of 25–30 doctoral students and equips them with transversal and leadership skills while offering exposure to non-academic leaders, including alumni and industry professionals. For Luc and Suhas, however, its value lay also in something less expected: connection.

“We truly met during the PhD Excellence Program” - explains Suhas. Through group activities, collaborative challenges, and even hands-on LEGO sessions, participants were encouraged to work closely together and step outside their academic comfort zones.

A defining moment came during a leadership and personality assessment exercise. By reflecting on their working styles, decision-making approaches, and strengths, Luc and Suhas discovered something surprising.

Our leadership styles matched extremely well. That’s when we first said: it could be great to have a company together.

One of the most impactful lessons came from the Leadership training with its focus on self-reflection. Rather than concentrating only on weaknesses, the coach encouraged participants to identify and enhance their strengths, while learning how to delegate or manage limitations.

This mindset proved crucial, not only for personal development, but later for entrepreneurship. Understanding complementary personalities, decision-making styles, and emotional “trigger points” helped Luc and Suhas build a strong and balanced partnership.

Another cornerstone of the PhD Excellence Program was public speaking and charisma training thathelped them learn how to translate deep technical knowledge into clear, compelling narratives, a skill that proved essential when pitching to investors, partners, and industry stakeholders.

“As PhD students, we’re used to being in the lab and speaking to specialists. Explaining complex technology to people without a scientific background is a real challenge.”- notes Luc.

During the Charisma course, we learned that there are many techniques for effectively conveying a message. This helped me a lot during my PhD and still helps us today during presentations and other activities, to be more charismatic.

Out of this journey emerged DeltaSpark, a startup built on the idea of flipping the narrative around CO₂.

Instead of seeing carbon dioxide solely as a waste, DeltaSpark treats it as a resource. Their vision is to capture CO₂ emissions from hard-to-abate industries - such as cement production and waste incineration - and transform them into valuable materials that can be reused across industries.

On the business side, EPFL’s ecosystem played an equally vital role. From early patent filing assistance via the Technology Transfer Office to business coaching, grants, and venture support Luc and Suhas were able to refine their business model, pivot away from the wrong markets, and gain real traction.

Today, DeltaSpark has raised over 1.5 million CHF and is preparing to scale its technology from the lab to industrial, containerized systems.

Stories like DeltaSpark demonstrate the transformative potential of the PhD Excellence Program.

“It’s not just about skills, it’s about people, mindset, and opportunity” - Luc and Suhas emphasize. This program brings together future leaders and gives them the tools and network to turn ideas into reality.

Their advice to fellow PhD candidates is clear: apply, engage fully, and be open to unexpected connections.

Because sometimes, the next breakthrough doesn’t start in the lab but in a leadership workshop, a team exercise, or a conversation that changes everything.