Author profile picture

Philips, NXP and TU/e have joined TekDelta, a program to help startups and scaleups in their growth. TekDelta is an initiative of Startup Delta and TNO. The aim is to facilitate patents, laboratories and research facilities for startups. This should enable more startups and scale-ups to grow faster, and scientific knowledge to quickly and effectively reach the market.

logo_TekDeltaTekDelta was officially launched last Thursday. Paul de Krom, CEO of innovation organization TNO, clarified at the launch that TekDelta fits the role of TNO to connect startups and knowledge. “TNO believes in the power of open innovation and wants to work with startupsto bring innovations more to the market more quickly. TNO likes to offer its labs, intellectual property and expertise for that purpose.”

Neelie Kroes, leading StartupDelta until this summer, highlights the accessibility of TekDelta. “Startups innovate rapidly, but often do not have money for expensive patents licensing and fully equipped laboratories. Through TekDelta, startups can grow faster, and technology will be made more accessible and more efficient to use for them. More corporates and research institutions should follow suit”,said Kroes. At present TekDelta has fifteen participating organizations.

Pilot

TekDelta is starting with a pilot, as a prelude to a multiannual program aimed at startups that are engaged in the Internet of Things and Big Data. Startup organizations supporting TekDelta include Rockstart, YES! Delft, Health Valley, startup Amsterdam, The Venture Café and LabforRent. TekDelta will join existing initiatives, in particular to add technological acceleration, for example by facilitating proof-of-concepts in labs or by unlocking existing intellectual property for quick application.

TekDelta combines the offerings of various parties (research institutes, universities, corporates and startup accelerators) and gives startups and startup organizations one entry for their technological challenges. Through TekDelta, startups can:

  • access labs (where they may not only knew of the existence).
  • license Intellectual propertyto make their product unique.
  • quickly find out who can help solve their technical problems in the Netherlands.
  • contact top R & D parties from the Netherlands.

Currently TekDelta consists of 15 organizations: three corporates (KPN, NXP, Philips), three technical universities (TU Eindhoven, TU Delft, Twente University), two applied research institutes (TNO, ECN), four startup organizations (Yes Delft, RockStart, Health Valley, Startup Amsterdam) and three online and offline platforms: (www.F6S.com, www.LabforRent.nl, Venture Café).