Eindhoven is strongly represented in the annual SME innovation top 100 with four nominations. Looking at the region, there are six listings. North-Brabant has 21 companies in the top 100. With that this province ends right behind the number 1, North-Holland, that has 22 nominations. The order within the top 100 will be announced in September. The top 100 is an initiative of the Chamber of Commerce.
The industry sector is strongest represented in the list of the most innovative companies in the Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises. After the industry sector the most innovations come from the sectors health and creative industry. The strong representation of North-Brabant in the sector Food&Agro this year is striking: nine of the twelve nominated companies are from this province.
Additive Industries
Possibly the best known of the nominations in Eindhoven is Additive Industries. With the MetalFAB1, the company of Jonas Wintermans and Daan Kersten has made a new step the past year to make metal printing accessible for the SMEs. Their ‘usual’ print systems already ran in the aviation, automotive, aerospace and high tech industry. With clients such as BMW, Airbus and the Kaak Group (industrial bakery lines) they are showing they’re a Jack of all trades.
Read more about Additive Industries here
Kvartett
Kvartett is, just like Additive Industries, located on Strijp-S. This startup focuses on modernizing labour input. To this end, the company provides an online platform for the exchange of permanent staff between affiliated organizations. Borrowing staff if temporary extra staff is needed. Lending when there temporarily isn’t enough work for permanent staff. That way expensive reorganisations are no longer necessary.
The cleverness of Kvartett is in bringing together of seemingly opposite interests. Organisations want more flexibility with employees. Employees just want more certainty. Kvartett breaks this contradiction. Affiliated organizations work together by borrowing or lending staff to each other. The employee retains his current contract and temporarily works at another organisation. De organisation retains its good employees. Making a permanent contract flexible.
LifeSense
LifeSense is an old acquaintance of E52, we have been following this startup ever since its inception two years ago. Started as a cautious participant of HighTechXL, this initiative of Valer Pop with his first product Carin is now present everywhere in the world. Carin offers underwear for women with urinary loss. It is absorbing, but also ‘smart’ thanks to a chip that warns before it’s too late and also links a training program for the pelvic floor muscles.
Read more about LifeSense here
One of a Kind
The world’s population is growing to 9 billion people, resulting in scarcity in food, labour and commodities. Technology is needed to meet demand and to save the earth. There is also a need for more transparency to ensure food safety and prevent fraud and a necessity for socially responsible and biological means of cultivation. One of a Kind Technologies is a high tech companies group that develops multidisciplinary mechatronic systems to meet these needs.
The company is developing an autonomously moving robot platform that recognizes crops to process them in a plant and bio friendly manner (harvesting, cutting, packaging). There is currently a robot that, through machine learning and machine vision, recognises and picks ripe cucumbers and lets the other cucumbers grow a little longer. This is happening 24/7 and reduces the risk of virus spread and reduces costs. Besides, the robot provides a lot of data and information about the plants, including predictive data that growers could really use.
ProWise Budel
Prowise has one goal in mind: making learning more accessible, more effective and more fun. For this the company from Budel develops products like touch screens, devices and software. Currently more than 10.000 schools, 200.000 teachers and hundreds of companies in fifteen countries are already using the solutions. According to the creators, monitoring products and services together with the feedback of users ensures that new products get developed, even before the desire or need in education becomes concrete. Together with the teaches, Prowise wants to make education even better.
Providing a total solution is unique in the market. The Prowise All-in-One system is a combination of an All-In-One lift, 65″ touch screen, PC module and Presenter software.
Light-Vest Nuenen
Light-Vest is a safety vest with built-in LED lighting. Ideal for people who work outside in the dark in all weathers. The company started developing the Light-Vest 3 years ago. Now more than 8000 have been sold. The Light-Vest is being used in construction, at the fire department, in aviation and in many other sectors. It makes the wearer himself clearly visible but it also illuminates his surroundings to a maximum of 5 meters. Holding a loose lamp is no longer necessary this way. Working in difficult conditions becomes safer and more efficient.
No Food Wasted
Officially not “from our region” anymore, because located in Den Bosch, but with the roots in Eindhoven: “NoFoodWasted. This previous winner of E52’s Startups-to-Watch was founded on the belief that food waste can be eliminated. With the help of data-driven knowledge, an innovative mind and a healthy dose of entrepreneurship, August de Vocht and his team offer practical and profitable solutions. The app “Discount” connects consumers, supermarkets and restaurants to do something against food waste together. With this handy app, the consumer can see at a glance which nearby products are encountering the expiration date and are on sale. This can be at the local supermarket, but it can also be at a nearby restaurant.
Read more about NoFoodWasted here
