EU gateone-project helps European industry mitigate risks when adopting disruptive technologies

Paris, France, January 9, 2017 – Blumorpho, an innovation and business accelerator for companies involved in smart technologies, today announces that its EU-backed gateone-project has overseen the fast-track development of 35 innovation projects since the three-year program began in 2015. These include Swiss-based F&P robotics’ flexible pressure sensors on its humanoid robot – recognized for its high agility, French-based itk’s IoT solutions for improved crop management and German-Serbian Nissatech’s smart knee sensor to rehabilitate patients following knee surgery.

The gateone-project is part of the EU’s drive to digitize European industry, an initiative called ‘Smart Anything Everywhere’. The project aims at enabling businesses to create value at low risk and facilitating pragmatic decision-making.

A further 15 gateone-project investments are on track for completion by spring 2017. This means Blumorpho will achieve gateone’s goal of delivering 50 projects within the allocated €2.5M ($2.65M) budget nine months ahead of the program’s December 2017 end date.

“Smart and digital technologies are creating growth opportunities in traditional and emerging markets. But their rapid adoption by European industry is being hampered by investment and structural constraints,” said Geraldine Andrieux, CEO of Blumorpho. “The gateone-project helps overcome two challenging hurdles: it lowers the financial risks for the innovator aiming to bring a novel product to the market and reduces the gamble associated with its adoption by market players.”

Candidates enrolled in the gateone-project have access to financing opportunities and other resources from €50K ($54K) up to €100K ($108K), as well as access to a portfolio of 200 innovations. Selected companies with smart innovation projects backed by a strong business case also benefit from the development of a free product demo. The vast technology and deep market expertise that the gateone-project offers candidates, in conjunction with the free demonstrator, mark its difference from other innovation support programs.

To date, 100 companies are working on innovation projects that receive gateone-project support, of which 35 have developed product demonstrators.

“Interest in the gateone-project has grown since its inception in 2015. We have already had a number of successes around Europe. As an outcome of each initial investment decision, we expect to see a minimum of €1M ($1.06M) generated in sales in the following three years,” Ms. Andrieux added.

Among other gateone-project successes are:

• German-based TissUse, a pioneer of Human-on-Chip developments has benefited from technology from Swiss R&T organization CSEM to support its new Multi Organs on Chip (MOC) product generation to reach higher productivity and performance in toxicity testing in the drug discovery process
• IK4-Ikerlan has collaborated with Laulagun to develop a miniature and modular innovative sensor node for use in predictive maintenance in harsh environments, such as off-shore wind turbines
• In collaborating with CSEM, the Swiss clothing firm HEIDI has integrated Photovoltaic cells in clothing in an aesthetic manner
• LETI collaborated with French-based RCUP, a smart shoe developer making 3D printed morphologic and individualized smart insoles that will limit back pain and give better comfort to workers

About the Gateone-Project

The gateone-project is an ‘Innovation Action’ under the Horizon 2020 program. It is a part of the EU’s ‘Smart Anything Everywhere’ initiative, whose goal is to enable European SMEs to adopt smart technologies and smart systems. With a budget of €6.3M ($6.7M), the gateone-project facilitates the process of validating the choice of technology and its relevance to target applications. It enables the innovator to show early product samples to customers by providing a free product demo for testing. The demo, which takes 6 – 12 months to develop, gives credibility to the product, making it easier for gateone candidates to pursue private investment.

Eight research and technology organizations join Blumorpho as partners in the gateone-project: CEA Leti (FR), CSEM (CH), Teeside University (UK), LAAS/CNRS (FR), Tyndall National Institute (IE), Fraunhofer IPMS (DE), IK4 Ikerlan (ES) and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (FI). They have adopted a common process to reduce the risk associated with the development of new technologies.

Inspired by industry standards for product development, in partnership with SMEs, this process aims to reach the first phase of innovation. To date, the gateone-project has entered over 560 companies into the program. More than 275 companies have considered adding digital innovations to their products and services. Roughly 100 companies are currently working on innovation projects using gateone-project support. A total of 35 investment decisions have been made. Another 15 new projects are in progress. The gateone-project ends in December 2017. It is expected that the project’s concept will be expanded to encompass a longer-term business model.

http://www.gateone-project.eu

About BLUMORPHO

BLUMORPHO is an innovation and business accelerator. It drives innovation by bringing its understanding of economic and industrial challenges and its global connections to the smart solutions ecosystem. Unlike incubators or accelerator programs that invest in promising startups, BLUMORPHO focuses on reducing the technological, market and financial risk of adopting innovation. Through its Fast Track Open Innovation service, it facilitates the cross-border adoption of radical innovations while providing relevant and mature technological solutions for industrial firms seeking new ways to create value at low risk. Its lean innovation service provides technology holders with resources to move swiftly from technology to demonstration model, thus enabling quicker ‘Go/No go’ product development decisions while generating lead customers.

BLUMORPHO uses a sophisticated set of algorithms to manage its marketplace ‘Offer-Match-Demand’ exchange process, which stores a portfolio of 200 innovations, 42,000 corporate contacts, 7,400 startups and 460 investors, as well as 20 years’ technology and market expertise.

http://www.blumorpho.com