The three-week program connected 10 IT and high-tech start-ups with SMEs and international companies to help them achieve successful market entry. This culminated in an event at the new Business Development Center Heidelberg, where presentations were made to more than 100 guests, 23 companies and a four-person jury.
Targeted and solution-based connections between start-ups and established companies in Baden Württemberg were made within the scope of “Up2B”, a regional accelerator program, in November. “In some cases, it was just like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. The actual work took place before rather than during the program,” explained Paul Becker, project manager at the Up2B Accelerator. “Finding the perfect connection depended on two essential elements: firstly, identifying the challenges that companies currently face and want to address with smart start-up solutions; and secondly, intensively searching for start-ups capable of overcoming the challenges.”
Ten startups across Germany were thus connected with five companies prior to the three-week program, with the aim to help the start-ups further develop their products and successfully enter the market.
Dr. André H.R. Domin welcomed the guests to the program’s final event, saying, “Through the Up2B Product Booster, we have succeeded in connecting the ideal start-ups with regional companies to help develop pilot projects. The resulting collaborations were extremely intensive and the applications, which were developed in just three weeks, will now be implemented as soon as possible. In all cases, these connections led to an exchange of ideas that were of great benefit to both the start-ups and the established companies.”
The jury declared start-ups Kimoknow from Karlsruhe and Plasmion from Augsburg the winners of the Up2B Product Booster. Klaus Schimmer, Open Innovation Chief Architect, substantiated the jury’s decision, stating, “Start-ups Kimoknow and Plasmion take us beyond the precision of the human senses and help people in their everyday work. We were impressed with the solutions’ broad range of potential industrial applications.”
Start-up Kimoknow utilizes artificial intelligence to automatically recognize objects, thus revolutionizing quality assurance and employee support.
Plasmion has developed an “electronic nose” that monitors volatile and organic compound odors in real time and almost any industrial environment.
Kimoknow’s Lukas Kriete summed up: “Participating in this program was an enriching experience. We received great coaching, were prepared for our collaboration with the companies, presented our product to many companies and had promising discussions.” The winning start-up was awarded a check for €500, donated by the Techniker Krankenkasse.
The Up2B Accelerator is a joint project of the Heidelberg Technology Park, Startup Mannheim and innoWerft Walldorf, and is funded by the state of Baden Württemberg and the European Social Fund (ESF).
Participating start-ups:
RabbitAI (Heidelberg), sentin (Bochum), ZReality (Kaiserslautern), urobots (Pforzheim), Lexatexer (Berlin), Sooqua (Darmstadt), KimoKnow (Karlsruhe), Plasmion (Augsburg), Semron (Dresden), Isarsoft (München/Karlsruhe)
Partner companies:
KSB SE & Co.KG (Frankenthal), IDS Innovation GmbH (Obersulm), Gelita AG (Eberbach), Digitalagentur Heidelberg and Stadt Mannheim
Jury:
Dr. Philipp Vorst (ABB AG Forschungszentrum), Dr. Bernhard Buck (Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG), Klaus Schimmer (SAP SE), Lone Aggersbjerg (Tink Tank GmbH)
