Heerlen, March 26, 2018

Second incubation program attracts international tech start-ups to Brightlands Smart Services Campus

The second Brightlands Techruption Incubation Program will start at the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen on Monday, March 26. During this event, together with corporates and knowledge institutes, ten carefully selected national and international start-ups will kick off an intensive and ambitious innovation project.

Co-creation as a key to success

The Brightlands Techruption Incubation Program offers the ideal breeding ground for start-ups that work on smart solutions using new technologies. Within the program, students, start-ups, scale-ups, international companies, researchers and scientists all work together. For the start-ups, the program offers a “fish pond” full of knowledge, experienced programmers, sparring partners and a relevant network. The incubation program focuses primarily on developing a brand-new idea to turn it into a fully validated and scalable business model, in continuous collaboration with experts from the industry, future partners and customers. In the field lab, the start-ups participate in a project with a maximum duration of two years, starting in late March. During the first nine weeks, the start-ups are immersed in the Venture Essentials part of the incubation program, followed by a 10-week Investor Relations program. The start-ups then move on to the Venture Boost program, during which they receive regular support from experts. Throughout the entire program, start-ups are assisted by experts, receive legal and financial advice and have access to the campus-wide program. They develop their value proposition, business plan, perfect pitch and are challenged to work on innovations that may be put into practice.

Start-ups from all corners of the world

On March 26, start-ups from all over the world will begin the incubation program. The three start-ups from the Netherlands are Blockheating (recycling blockchain heat to convert it to heat for greenhouses), Barbecane (crowdfunding platform that evenly distributes risks and returns) and Prop.az (platform to make renting out real estate more efficient and less expensive). A start-up from Ukraine will also be participating, Crypto Payment System (enables telecom companies to function like banks), Topshelf Enterprises from the United States (develops a decentralized STI/3D file-sharing system), Smart Futures from France (uses gaming to encourage citizens’ involvement in maintenance of public areas), InsureVite from Singapore (combines AI chatbots and smart contracts to improve efficiency in the insurance industry), Vitalgia (automates labor-intensive work in greenhouses using AI), and finally, AppsForce from the United Kingdom (platform that helps SMEs to work more cheaply and efficiently).

Technology helps answer burning questions

At the Brightlands Smart Services Campus, creating the connection between knowledge, technology, science and social issues is our day-to-day business. The Techruption field lab not only has a front-row seat when it comes to innovation, but also offers input to parties that are working on the continued development of policy and regulations.

At Techruption, you will encounter a community of people working on sustainable innovations in blockchain, artificial intelligence and climate change. They do this through co-creation, working with companies, students and knowledge partners in our field lab at the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen. The Techruption field lab offers two unique programs where people can transform their ideas into concrete prototypes with the assistance of professional supervision. A cross-sectoral approach is always taken, which means that mixed teams work on projects. The structure of the field lab is not only unique in the Netherlands, it is also very effective. In the lab, innovations are made to the existing innovation process. For start-ups, we offer an incubation program and the opportunity to work on use cases with established companies in innovation projects. Both programs only take a few weeks, and during this time, participants work intensively on designing and perfecting the idea in order to ultimately end up with a concrete prototype.

About Brightlands Innovation Factory

Brightlands Innovation Factory guides start-ups, helping them to become successful companies. Brightlands Innovation Factory helps start-ups navigate the entire product life cycle: from the very first idea up to and including putting the products into production and selling them (incubation - acceleration - validation - scale-up). These start-ups are active in the four focus areas of the Brightlands campuses: chemistry and materials (Sittard-Geleen), health (Maastricht), smart IT services and big data (Heerlen) and nutrition (Venlo). Among other benefits, these national and international start-ups have a dedicated workspace at the campus, access to a high-quality knowledge and expertise network, and facilities such as laboratories, pilot plants and 3D printers. www.brightlandsinnovationfactory.com