futureSAX Innovation Summit 2016 in Dresden
futureSAX Innovation Summit, June 6, 2016 at Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden
On Monday, June 6, 2016, the futureSAX Innovation Summit 2016 took place in Dresden. This conference was the highlight of the futureSAX year with the award ceremony for the futureSAX ideas competition 2016 and was the meeting point for over 450 innovators from all over Saxony.
Punctually at 14.00 hours, the futureSAX Innovation Land opened its doors for guests interested in innovation. Together, futureSAX project manager Marina Heimann invited the guests to stroll through the multifaceted exhibition. There were almost 70 business ideas and concepts from this year's competition to be discovered at the futureSAX Idea Showcase, which was once again made possible by the friendly support of the Mittelständischen Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen mbH and the Bürgschaftsbank Sachsen GmbH. But futureSAX and Jugend forscht alumni also exhibited their ideas, products and projects in a particularly vivid manner - true to the motto "Innovations you can touch" in the Alumni Area. Here, in the Alumni Area, a very special surprise awaited the guests, as they were able to create their own souvenir image using "Lightfight" light painting.
After the short introduction of the futureSAX Learning and Mentoring Networks, the guests also take the opportunity to become active in them themselves. While the Learning Networks' working groups intensively discussed and worked on the topics "Modern Manufacturing Processes - 3D Printing" and "Automation and Robotics", the inquisitive visitors to the Mentoring Networks gathered tips on marketing, product design, and legal basics in personal conversations with the experts from the futureSAX network.
Afterwards, the founders, entrepreneurs and scientists took the stage. During the futureSAX Investor Roadshow and the futureSAX Innovation Exchange live, they took the opportunity to present their innovation projects and to place their capital and cooperation requests in a targeted manner. The Investors Lounge was the ideal place to meet with interested investors and talk to them personally. With over 30 one-on-one meetings, this offer was also actively used. But also beyond that, there was a lot of networking.
The award ceremony for the winners of the futureSAX Ideas Contest 2016 and the futureSAX Online Award 2016 by Minister of Economics Martin Dulig was the highlight of the event. "The variety of ideas and innovations submitted this year is impressive proof of the high innovative ability of the Saxon economy," emphasized Dulig, and added: "With the futureSAX ideas competition, we want to make these ideas visible and help develop them into sustainable concepts. At the same time we want to encourage even more people to think, act and invest innovatively.
Among more than 80 applicants and after two rounds of judging, the following teams and companies finally made it to the winners' podium:
The winners of the futureSAX ideas competition 2016
1st place - Team "Senorics" from Dresden
With their novel organic hi-tech sensors in stamp format, the "Senorics" team is revolutionizing agriculture by allowing the determination of harvest maturity as well as the moisture and protein content of field crops even before the harvest. Not only the team around Dr. Ronny Timmreck, from the Technical University of Dresden, but also the competition jury is convinced of this and rewards this business idea, which scored highest in the categories novelty, feasibility and commercial potential, with first place and prize money of 15,000 Euros.
2nd place - Rhebo AG from Leipzig
The Leipzig-based company Rhebo AG secured second place with the "Rhebo Industrial Protector" and thus a prize money of 10,000 euros. For the jury, the innovative hardware and software technology, which can monitor industrial controllers in real time and ensure error-free and uninterrupted network operation, represents a tangible approach to customer benefits and market potential in the age of Industry 4.0.
3rd place - LAVIU GmbH from Freiberg
LAVIU GmbH was awarded third place with a prize money of 5,000 euros. The young team of founders, consisting of engineer Julia Ryssel and designer Martin Cirillo-Schmidt, is opening up another field of application in a growth market with an innovative technology from the aerospace industry. The result is the first and worldwide patented love toy with a silent pulsating surface.
futureSAX online award winner - "MISSY ROCKZ" from Dresden
In addition to the main prizes, the futureSAX online prize was awarded for the third time with the friendly support of Cyberport. In the public online voting, the Dresden team "MISSY ROCKZ - everything is possible" emerged as the audience winner with a novel sports high heel. A total of 69 participants from the futureSAX ideas competition had put themselves forward for the vote. Over 1,200 people cast their votes.
Afterwards, the after-show party offered enough time to make and maintain contacts with good live music, fortified by the buffet and with a cool glass of wine in hand until late into the summer evening hours. A total of 39 futureSAX alumni used the event for a reunion, which we also used to hand over their AlumniCards to Dr. Bert Männig of Heliatek GmbH and Matthias Pinkert of HOLY TRINITY GmbH afterwards.
Once again, "Congratulations" from the entire futureSAX team to the winners of the 2016 futureSAX Ideas Contest, and a big thank you to all of the contest participants whose ideas and concepts made 2016 a particularly exciting year of competition. Many thanks also to all those who actively helped to shape and support the futureSAX 2016 Innovation Conference and to all the helping hands behind the scenes.
Photos: Frank Grätz