The most important factor is the person

01 July 2016
Yesterday, the TU Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) and the Inkulab presented their program for supporting scientists who want to found their own company.

Norbert Herrmann, Robert Hohlbaum, and Ralph Langanke
Norbert Herrmann, Robert Hohlbaum, and Ralph Langanke © UniCat / Martin Penno
Norbert Herrmann, CfE
Robert Hohlbaum, CfE
Ralph Langanke, Inkulab

Norbert Herrmann and Robert Hohlbaum, both from CfE, gave an overview on innovation processes at the TU Berlin and the support concept of the Innovation Team. On the road from being a student to becoming an entrepreneur there are thousands of issues that someone has to deal with. The CfE supports and provides expert guidance for realizing a business idea.

“The idea has to be good, but most important is the person having the new idea”, says Norbert Herrmann. The CfE team has extensive advisory skills, information on supporting programs and grants. The Innovation Team can provide a network of invaluable contacts.

Inkulab

The Inkulab was presented by project leader Ralph Langanke. Inkulab is a joint project of the TU Berlin, the Cluster of Excellence UniCat, and the WISTA Management GmbH. The Inkulab laboratory will be set up on the TU Campus Charlottenburg in close proximity of the Building for Technical Chemistry by the end of 2016. At least two start-up teams can use the laboratory simultaneously.

Inkulab aims to support scientists who are interested in founding a startup and who have achieved potentially profitable research results. Inkulab thus closes a gap in technology transfer between research and development of marketable products or services during the early stages of a startup’s life.

After the talks and vivid discussions by the very interested audience of mainly BIG-NSE and some UniCat PhD students, two startups from the chemistry and chemical engineering area presented themselves.

sMarterials

Dr. Martin Bothe is one of the founders of sMarterials – Smart Surgical Gloves. This project aims to develop surgical gloves with higher safety and good tactile properties for physicians and nurses.

HappyPils

HappyPils was presented by co-founder Jakob Frenzel. HappyPils has invented a process for removing dicarboxylic acids from beer. The result is stomach-friendly beer that could be tested after this innovation workshop in front of the Gerhard Ertl Center.

HappyPils was founded in 2015 by Felix Fischer, Jakob Frenzel and Doris Citro. Felix Fischer is the Inventor of this process. UniCat Professor and Board Member Reinhard Schomäcker is mentor of HappyPils.

HappyPils on Facebook

Innovation workshop

This innovation workshop on June 30, 2016 at the Gerhard Ertl Center was organized jointly by BIG-NSE and UniCat. Many thanks to Jean-Philippe Lonjaret, Nina Hunsicker, Sabina Mollenhauer, Christian Gralmann, and Martin Penno.

All Photos © UniCat / Martin Penno

Audience Innovation Workshop
Martin Bothe, sMaterials
Jakob Frenzel, HappyPils
HappyPils: Felix Fischer, Doris Citro, and Jakob Frenzel
Sabina Mollenhauer: which one is stomach-friendly?
Felix Fischer, Doris Citro, and Jakob Frenzel; HappyPils
Jean-Philippe Lonjaret and BIG-NSE fellows
Startup experts
Sabina Mollenhauer