The Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) offers students and scientists at TU Wien a comprehensive support in founding startups, which are based on turning pioneering research into attractive and profitable products. The support rests upon four central pillars.

Firstly, the i²c aims to "inspire" the scientists to start a company, which gives them the opportunity to accompany the practical implementation of their research results.

As engineers and scientists are often unfamiliar with the economic delicacies of companies and markets, a dedicated education program ("educate"), taught by renowned national and international lecturers, is designed to provide essential foundations for a successful start in entrepreneurship.

This also includes methods that support the systematic development of product innovations from research results ("innovate").

Finally, a successful company foundation also requires networking with stakeholders whose support is needed, such as investors or other company founders ("connect").

The Networking Friday serves above all this last aspect. Dr. Birgit Hofreiter, the director of the i²c, points to two central objectives of the event. On the one hand, it illustrates the great potential of research at TU Wien. This is not only about innovative products, but also about the contribution that a renowned technical university can make to the success of digital transformation. On the other hand, the Networking Friday is intended to bring together people who can contribute to the success of a company with different skills and resources.

The event started with a panel discussion in the morning. The question discussed was whether the university should actively promote the digital transformation of industry and society, or be restricted to the role of an observer. The international panelists from science, politics and industry agreed that the university as a cradle of scientific knowledge and innovation plays a vital role in the shaping of the transformation, but that the university still has to find its role in this process. In any case, initiatives such as those pursued by the TU Wien with the i²c are very important.

During the "Networking Lunch", 22 research groups from TUW had the opportunity to present current research results with a high potential for innovation.

The afternoon was devoted to a competition ("Pitch Challenge"), in which ten selected projects, which had previously passed through a three-day bootcamp - the i²c StartAcademy - got the opportunity to present to investors and a keynote speech by Dr. Tim Hart, University of Oxford, on the subject of scientific entrepreneurship. In the jury, the "Creme de la Creme" of the Austrian start-up investors and promoters (2Min2Mio investor Michael Altrichter, AAIA, Startup300, Speedinvest, PioneersVentures, GIN/goInternational, aws Gründerfonds, aws JumpStart) was represented.

A total of five prizes were awarded.

• The prize of a participation in a 3-week accelerator program in Tel Aviv (sponsored by GIN/goInternational) for the best overall concept worth € 5,000 went to "CellView".
• "DataBot" won the € 5,000 realization grant for the most promising research result (sponsored by KPMG) and a prize of € 1000, - from Startup300.
• "Tetragon" received the Innovation Prize, which was awarded with two tickets for the Pioneers Festival.
• "Huber Scientific" convinced the Austrian Angel Investment Association (aaia) and was awarded in the Commercial Viability category.

Links:
Website: <link http: i2c.ec.tuwien.ac.at>

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Event pictures: <link http: bit.ly _blank>

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Further information:
Dr. Birgit Hofreiter
TU Wien
Innovation Incubation Center (i²c)
Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Wien
T: +43-1-58801-188308
<link>birgit.hofreiter@tuwien.ac.at 


Pictures: © Lennart Horst