Award for AIT Startup Initiative

The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology researches and develops technologies in a number of key areas, such as decarbonization and digitization, which are implemented on the market once they reach a certain level of maturity. This can be done through joint projects with partners and customers, but also through patenting and the founding of startups and spin-offs. In this way, AIT brings research results into application and creates social and economic added value. To support this process, an entrepreneurship program entitled "Time to think big - Explore, connect and start your business!" has been restructured and strengthened in recent years. 

This initiative has been highly successful, as evidenced by a number of recent start-ups (see below) - and it is also gaining recognition in the professional world: In the "Spin-off Dashboard Austria 2021", an inventory of academic spin-off activities in Austria conducted for the first time, the AIT achieved an excellent 2nd place in the category "Non-university research institutions". 

In the view of the Spin-off Austria Initiative jury, the AIT's strategy demonstrates a "coherent further development and integration of start-up support measures into the ongoing research and development process". The jury also highlighted the establishment and integration of a technology-oriented venture capital network and the integration of entrepreneurship into the PhD program. Another plus point was that awareness and further training measures are organized with external partner organizations. 

"We are very pleased to receive this award and it confirms our chosen path of an integrated spin-off strategy," says Alexander Svejkovsky, AIT Chief Financial Officer. He points out that the implementation of research results is of great benefit to the economy and society. "In addition, the AIT Entrepreneurship Program offers attractive career opportunities for our employees," he emphasizes. "If it is recognized early on that AIT offers an opportunity to potentially start a company with one's own ideas and to find support here, then we attract the best minds with this."

The AIT Entrepreneurship Program is designed to promote the entrepreneurial spirit at AIT and to support neo-founders with specific training and consulting services. "We accompany researchers from the very beginning when they want to bring their ideas to market - together with a strong network of start-up experts, financing options and funding bodies," explains Hans-Peter Blahowsky, who heads the program at AIT as Startup Catalyst and Coach for Business Development. He supports people who want to start up a company in all stages of its development.

An AIT Startup Policy was created: This should help to clearly define the relationship between AIT and the startup in all phases and to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Among other things, the policy provides guidance on potential AIT involvement in the various phases of a startup's lifecycle and on the possible business relationships between AIT and the startup. 

The creation of spin-offs is considered early in the innovation cycle as one of the possible exploitation options for research and development results. Spin-off teams are comprehensively supported by internal and external experts - special emphasis is placed on working out and analyzing the business model, risks and challenges of the business idea in detail. 

AIT's approach comprises a multi-stage gate model with corresponding key activities and gate decisions and is divided into the following phases:

• Scouting
• Entrepreneurship Development
• Pre-Founding
• Founding
• Scale-Up

Spin-off teams receive customized support in all phases. 

For a regular exchange within the AIT Entrepreneurship Community, Entrepreneurship Q&A Sessions take place once a month. At AIT Entrepreneurship Talks, guests from the startup scene and the AIT partner network are regularly invited. The AIT is integrated into existing startup networks (incubators, accelerators, etc.) and cooperates with accent, IST CUBE, I.E.C.T. Hermann Hauser, aws Austria Wirtschaftsservice, WU Entrepreneurship Centre, INiTS or Tecnet equity NÖ, among others. In addition, there are a variety of entrepreneurship events organized by other stakeholders in the startup ecosystem that offer insights and networking opportunities. 

All info on the topics of entrepreneurship, startup and spin-off are collected in a dedicated website on the AIT intranet and are updated continuously. 

Since the founding of the Entrepreneurship Program, AIT can already point to several successful spin-offs. Ensemo GmbH was founded in March 2021 and develops a process with which special microorganisms can be introduced directly into seeds. This creates a biological alternative to fertilization with chemicals. A machine is being constructed for the fully automated mechanical treatment of soybean and corn seeds ("SeedJection"), and microorganisms are being identified that have the potential to supply plants with nitrogen and phosphorus. 

TELBIOMED offers a modular digital health solution to support therapy for chronically ill people. In this telehealth system, the patient transmits his or her vital data via app to the attending physician or therapist, who monitors developments and makes therapy adjustments as needed. Thanks to its modular design, the system can be adapted precisely to the requirements of individual chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart failure or high blood pressure. The system also finds application in monitoring individuals in COVID-19 lockdown. 

In turn, CellEctric Biosiences, a startup founded in spring 2021, is working on a new platform technology for electrostatic manipulation of cells. Its first application is to isolate pathogens in blood samples for rapid diagnosis of sepsis (blood poisoning). CellEctric's technology is able to shorten the time to diagnosis by a factor of ten - a critical advantage in sepsis, which is a race against time. 

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