User Group: Entrepreneur

“We are pleased to be welcoming these new members to the Cyber Valley Start-up community”, said Michael Black, Director of the Perceiving Systems Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and Spokesperson of Cyber Valley. “These companies show that the AI ecosystem that we’ve built is thriving. Since it was launched less than a year ago, the Start-Up Network has gained significant momentum. The diversity of its members testifies to the broad scope of AI expertise in southwestern Germany and demonstrates the region’s strength as a tech hotspot.”

AmbiGate is a Tübingen-based software company that specializes in human motion sensing. The spin-off of the University of Tübingen has developed software that – combined with 3D camera systems or common smartphone cameras – precisely analyses human motion to offer a solution for one of society’s most widespread health problems: back pain.

Also based in Tübingen, Cytolytics has developed software that improves medical analyses and generates knowledge for research. Based on machine learning, the software speeds up flowcytometry analysis while at the same time ensuring more reliable results. Flowcytometry is used for routine diagnostics in hematology, infectiology and immunology, among others. Cytolytics is already collaborating with the Tübingen University Hospital.

In Mojin Robotics, an already well-known player has joined the Cyber Valley start-up community. Its “Care-O-bot®4” robotics platform offers individual solutions in all kinds of customer service scenarios, such as retail, hotels, museums, hospitals, and airports. In 2015, Care-O-bot® won the prestigious RedDot Design Award with the distinction “best of the best” and in 2017, Mojin’s service robot Paul won at the retail technology awards europe (reta) in the category “Best Customer Experience”. The company, which is a spin-off of the Fraunhofer IPA Stuttgart and is based in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, is currently working on its next product: a mobile service robot for the logistics and manufacturing industry.

plus10 has developed AI-based software tools to optimize automated manufacturing lines in the fields of consumer goods, medical devices and pharmaceutical production. For instance, its “Shannon®” virtual assistant system for machine operators helps increase productivity by delivering information about possible sources of error and identifying quick fixes. In addition, the “Darwin” software continuously learns about the behavior of automated stand-alone machines and provides feedback about technical improvements for each of machine. plus10 is also a Fraunhofer high-tech spin-off, operating from offices in Stuttgart and Augsburg.

Tactai has developed software and hardware products that bring the natural sense of human touch to online digital interactons across a wide range of applications, among them touchscreens, VR devices, and haptic sensors. The company’s “Dynamic Haptics Platform” can be used for both commercial and medical applications. Tactai was cofounded by Katherine J. Kuchenbecker, Director of the Haptic Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart. The company is based in both Stuttgart and Boston, USA.

The Cyber Valley Start-Up Network is pleased to be welcoming a new member to its ranks. With the addition of Colugo, the network now counts a strategic consultancy that specializes in assessing AI-related potential and opportunities for businesses in the Tübingen region. The start-up also offers workshops and training courses that aim to support businesses in gaining the understanding of AI they need to apply it in their respective fields.

The Cyber Valley Start-Up Network was recently established with the aim of promoting technology transfer and entrepreneurship in the broad field of AI in the Stuttgart-Tübingen region. The network currently counts eight members and plans to keep expanding in the New Year. 

Stuttgart/Tübingen. Cyber Valley on Monday announced the launch its new Start-up Network as a platform for exchange between AI start-ups within the Cyber Valley ecosystem.

“By promoting dialog among experts in the field of intelligent systems, we are building a strong community of entrepreneurs in the Stuttgart-Tübingen region,” said Michael Black, Cyber Valley spokesperson and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen. “With the Start-Up Network, we have taken an important step toward promoting tech transfer, which is one of the Cyber Valley initiative’s central goals.”  

As members of the network, start-ups are invited to attend Cyber Valley networking events such as talks, meet-ups, and tech brunches on a regular basis. Network members’ activities must be related to the field of intelligent systems. Moreover, the start-ups are required to be connected with Cyber Valley, either by being headquartered in the Stuttgart-Tübingen region, or by having members or alumni of Cyber Valley partner institutions among their founders. Membership in the Cyber Valley Start-Up Network is reviewed once a year to ensure that these requirements continue to be met. 

Cyber Valley invites interested start-ups that match these criteria to apply for membership to the Start-Up Network. “We want to help the start-up community in the region grow and are building this network to create a breeding ground for new ideas and innovation,” says Michael Black. 

The Cyber Valley Start-Up Network counts seven initial members:

• Deep Art: A joint venture between scientists at the University of Tübingen, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland), Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and the University of Freiburg, Deep Art applies an algorithm that allows everyone to create pictures in different artistic styles in just a few clicks.
• Layer 7 AI. Founded by scientists at the University of Tübingen, the consultancy specializes in taking the latest breakthroughs in machine learning and turning them into scaleable products. 
• Meshcapade was founded by two alumni of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen. The company aims to make animating, simulating, and recognizing human bodies effortless, and to bring realistic virtual humans into simulation and 3D environments.
• Predictive Cueing is a Tübingen start-up offering motion cueing software that enables urban driving in a simulator. Its founder is an alumnus of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen. 
• Reasonal is developing a new generation of machine learning algorithms to bring meaning, clarity, and civility to online conversations. It was co-founded by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen and from the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Kaiserslautern.
• Sagacity is a Tübingen-based start-up that seeks to improve customer and employee engagement with machine learning and artificial intelligence solutions.
• Scatterblogs offers AI solutions for analysts, decision-makers, and journalists. Founded by alumni of the University of Stuttgart, the start-up’s solutions enable users to detect important events through social media such as Twitter and Facebook in real time and to identify relevant content.

Start-ups interested in joining the Cyber Valley Start-Up Network are invited to contact the Cyber Valley management office at: contact@cyber-valley.de