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Events and Highlights
Insights Demo Day #2 June ’23
Demo Day #2 @ Vodafone Skylounge
This time, in addition to the amazing view from the 18th floor of the Vodafone Tower, there was also great weather for Demo Day. But not only the sun could shine, but also our 11 start-ups from Batch #2 delivered dazzling pitches in front of our expert jury, consisting of Dr. Jürgen Wesemann, Ford, Dr. Frédéric du Bois-Reymond, Earlybird-X, and Eike Gerhardt, Schumpeter Ventures, and our audience, which was not only made up of experts from politics, science, finance, and industry, but also alumni from Batch #1: Enno Dülberg, AUXSYS, Carlotta Altringer and David Günter, Vitrofluidix, and Moritz Schmidt, GEMESYS.
While the jury turned to the difficult selection of the top 3 together with Dr. Kirsten Bender, Head of Department Innovation & Markets, MWIKE.NRW, Dr. Daniel Stadler moderated an exciting panel discussion entitled “Deep-Tech – Europe’s last chance?”. With Dr. Theresa Schredelseker, ZBT, Malvine Komorek, Schauenburg Ventures, Dr. Sebastian Dreßen, Siemens, Tobias Weißgerber, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, as well as our alumnus Dr.-Ing. Dennis Michaelis, GEMESYS, the panel offered a broad cross-section of industry, founders, finance, and science and provided exciting views of the respective perspectives.
The top 3 start-ups received prize money totaling 10,000 euros. First place went to Co-reactive from Aachen with a solution for decarbonization in the cement and construction industry. Second place went to the start-up Alteva Technologies from Aachen, which develops new materials for next-gen batteries. Third place went to BlindSpot Software with a solution for more efficient firmware testing on hardware.
This program was surrounded by a start-up exhibition of the participating ventures, which was very well received by our guests and invited them to network. The event ended in the truest sense of the word with a sundowner on the roof terrace of the Skylounge.
In conclusion, after two batches, we can say that we form a real deep-tech family with our start-ups and alumni and our network. Would you like to become part of this family and experience 12 weeks of acceleration? Applications for Batch #3 are still open until 16 August 2023!
Insights Kick-Off March ’23
Kick-Off Batch #2 |27. März 2023
The second batch of the HIGH-TECH.NRW Accelerator program was again very popular: Almost 40 applications from start-ups from the deep-tech sector and the whole of NRW. They all showed so much know-how, innovative drive, and passion that it was really hard for us to select the final participants for Batch #2. Nevertheless, we put together a great Batch #2 on 11 participating startups that will inspire you as well.
Here is Batch #2:
AiML Technology, Jülich
Alteva Technologies, Cologne
BlindSpot Software, Bochum
Co-reactive, Düsseldorf
Galvani Energy, Aachen
Humobility, Aachen
N-Level, Cologne
Quantum Cybersecurity Group, Essen
Vivalyx, Aachen
xemX, Bochum
Zolarize, Köln
The event started in the morning with a get-to-know-you workshop and a Q&A of the 1st place winner of Batch #1. Christof Schares and Boris Mayer from Innovative Robot Delivery, as fresh alumni, reported on their experiences with our Accelerator program and also knew how to helpfully answer the numerous questions of the young founders.
The actual kick-off of the event was also joined by the participants from the HIGH-TECH.NRW (mentor) network, to whom the start-ups presented themselves in exciting pitches. A lively exchange during the mix & match format could be continued fluently over a delicious finger food buffet and an after-work beer.
Insights Demo Day Nov. ’22
Demo Day | November 25, 2022
HIGH-TECH.NRW invited to this year’s Demo Day to the premises of Evonik in Essen.
The Demo Day not only concluded the Accelerator’s 12-week program, but also gave the start-ups of the first batch the opportunity to present their hardware prototypes for application in areas such as energy efficiency, agribusiness or electrical engineering. Three start-ups were selected by a jury of experts and will receive prize money totaling 20,000 euros. First place was secured by Innovative Robot Delivery GmbH from Bonn with a solution for the automatic delivery of parcels. Second place went to the start-up Biothrust from Aachen, which optimizes industrial bioprocesses. Third place reached GEMESYS Technologies from Bochum with a new chip design specifically for artificial intelligence.
The state’s Accelerator program helps highly specialized startups from North Rhine-Westphalia accelerate their innovations and expand their own networks.
These start-ups and spin-offs were part of Batch #1:
· Auxsys GmbH, Aachen
· BioThrust, Aachen
· Funktion* GmbH, Köln
· GEMESYS Technologies, Bochum
· GLIM Skin, Bochum
· HoDforming GmbH, Düsseldorf
· Icy 3D, Bonn
· Innovative Robot Delivery GmbH, Bonn
· LiveSen, Bochum
· NUNOS, Bonn
· VitrofluidiX, Köln
The HIGH-TECH.NRW accelerator program gets a patroness
Ms. Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economy, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia assumes patronage for the Accelerator HIGH-TECH.NRW.
We are very pleased to have Ms. Neubaur at our side, as she is committed to maintaining NRW’s international competitiveness by creating a climate-neutral and strong industry. This requires new technologies, which are created primarily by national High-Tech and Deep-Tech start-ups.
With their groundbreaking innovations, technology startups can become trailblazers for sustainable transformation in North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond. With the HIGH-TECH.NRW program, the state government therefore supports innovative founders in further developing their high-tech solutions for key issues of the future with the help of broad networks. The diverse university landscape, the strong industry and the lively start-up scene in our state offer the best conditions for this. With HIGH-TECH.NRW, we are pooling this enormous potential and at the same time strengthening North Rhine-Westphalia as a technology location.
Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economy, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy
Batch 2020
Based on the pitches given, the start-ups were evaluated by a jury of experts. The three winners were awarded prizes at the subsequent award ceremony.
First place went to the founding team of LIDROTEC from Bochum for the development of a laser system for high-precision cutting of high-tech materials such as cell phone displays and microchips. The laser system combines ultrashort-pulse laser processing with the controlled use of liquids, enabling it to cut faster and more precisely than conventional techniques.
Second place goes to FreeD Printing, also from Bochum: The company is revolutionizing the implementation of additive manufacturing processes with a robot-based multidirectional modeling process that builds components from multiple directions with freely formed layers – making support structures superfluous.
Third place went to Midel Photonics from Bonn, Germany, for the development of high-quality laser beam shaping elements that are particularly inexpensive and always tailored to the application thanks to the unique proprietary technology. This saves valuable resources in manufacturing processes in key areas such as automotive, displays, semiconductors and clean energy.
HIGH-TECH.NRW supports hardware-oriented start-ups in the field of key technologies in successful first program
With the virtual closing event, Demo Day, the first program of HIGH-TECH.NRW ended on November 13, 2020:
the first Business Accelerator or hardware-oriented high-tech startups in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In addition to the presentation of the 12 participating start-ups in front of an expert audience from business and science, a discussion round with Dr. Johannes Velling, head of the group „Gründungen, digitale Impulse, Finanzierung“ of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Media, NMWP.NRW Clustermanager Dr.-Ing. Harald Cremer and three founders Dr. David Dung (Midel Photonics), Christoph Seidenstücker (Pixel Photonics UG) and Professor Dr. Niels Benson (airCode UG) under the moderation of Dr. Heinz Brückelmann the challenges for founders in the high-tech sector were discussed. The focus was on the integration of founders into start-up ecosystems, the importance of strategic intellectual property management and access to venture capital.
The state government has set itself ambitious goals: By 2024, we want to increase the number of startups from universities in North Rhine-Westphalia by 50 percent. The HIGH-TECH.NRW business accelerator specializes in supporting technology-oriented start-ups and thus fills an important gap in the accelerator landscape in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is characterized by intensive cooperation with the leading startup universities in North Rhine-Westphalia – first and foremost the Excellence Startup Centers. I am impressed by the great teams that presented themselves at the Demo Day. This underlines the strength of the startup ecosystem in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister for Economy, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy
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