Essen/Kreuztal, May 24, 2022 Last Thursday, North Rhine-Westphalia's startup elite gathered at the Buschhütten campus in Kreuztal. RWTÜV GmbH, active in the business areas of telecommunications & IT, energy & environment, and insurance services, invited them to award a total of 150,000 euros to the most innovative business ideas from three young entrepreneurs. The occasion was the 150th anniversary of the Essen-based group, which was founded in Siegen in 1872.
With the first-place trophy and a sum of 70,000 euros, „House of Plasma GmbH“ from Bochum, represented by CEO Dr. Moritz Oberberg, was beaming on stage. „I am thrilled and speechless. This is a great award and an incredible funding amount!“ said the first-place winner, expressing his impressions to the 50 invited guests, including the patron, the Minister for Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, and the First Deputy Mayor of the City of Siegen, Angela Jung.
House of Plasma is the developer of a multipolar resonance probe that enables industry-compatible plasma diagnostics and its successful use in industrial production processes. The measurement technology allows for a significant improvement in the quality of manufacturing processes in plasma surface treatments. Application areas include, for example, the surfaces of solar cells, eyeglass lenses, lenses, PET bottles, and electronic devices. „The measurement of manufacturing parameters in plasma applications is real Industry 4.0 from NRW and is worthy of our highest award!“ summarized Fabian Fechner, CEO of RWTÜV, the jury's assessment.
The first runner-up, awarded €50,000, was Terranigma Solutions GmbH, based in Aachen, for its innovative solutions in designing digital geological modeling workflows. Third place went to Better Bau from Essen, which offers software for architecture and engineering firms that digitizes and massively simplifies handling laws, regulations, and guidelines in the construction industry, particularly fire safety regulations.
Under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, who co-presented the awards in Buschhütten, RWTÜV announced its Startup Award in January. From over 60 applications from the fields of environment, IT, construction, quality management, and STEM, an expert jury consisting of representatives from research, business, and RWTÜV selected these three. „The winners convinced us because they not only thought about the economic viability of their technical innovation but also developed it as a deployable solution for industry. This is business acumen and an innovative culture that we consciously want to promote in NRW, our home region for 150 years,“ explains Thomas Biedermann, CEO of RWTÜV.
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