Boosting Key Technologies
On behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Austria
Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH (aws) provides funding and consultancy for high-tech
startups in Austria. A special focus is on supporting technological areas with high growth
potential and innovative strength such as Life Sciences, Information and Communication
Technology, and Physical Sciences.
Additional information on aws High Technology:
Phone +43 1 501 75 – 100
E-mail hochtechnologie@awsg.at
Projects supported in
2014
www.awsg.at/hochtechnologie
Innovations are decisive for making Austria an attractive
business location. The successful implementation of new
ideas raises competitiveness, secures quality jobs and
facilitates the development of new growth markets. Highly
educated and creative individuals, entrepreneurial stamina,
innovative companies and a location policy that creates
a highly supportive business environment are important
prerequisites for achieving this aim. A key element is targeted
public funding throughout the entire innovation cycle, from
basic and applied research to the market.
Dr. Reinhold Mitterlehner
Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister
of Science, Research and Economy
The following overview of high-tech startups supported in
2014 shows the great variety of innovations made in Austria.
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The aws high-tech promotion programmes focus on giving
prospective founders all the support they need to successfully
start a business. Sector-specific advice, adequate financing
and assistance in finding investors help to turn promising
ideas into marketable products and processes. Innovative
ideas thus develop into actual businesses that strengthen
Austria’s competitive edge, contribute to economic growth,
create jobs and add value.
DI Bernhard Sagmeister
aws Manager
Mag.a Edeltraud Stiftinger
aws Manager
On the following pages, we are pleased to present the
startups which were supported in implementing their ideas
through aws programmes in 2014.
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Strong support for industries of the future
The aws integrated funding programme supports enterprises in areas of technology with
high growth potential and innovative strength:
High Technology
Brought to Life
– Information and Communication Technology
– Physical Sciences
– Life Sciences
aws High Technology offers:
– Funding grants for the pre-founding phase
– Funding grants for the startup phase
– Funding grants to hire external experts in order to close critical competency gaps
– Support of initiatives for the internationalisation, networking and further education of
founder-entrepreneurs
– Business plan competition for stronger Life Sciences enterprises
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5
aws supports the pre-founding phase of resource-demanding high-tech enterprises.
In order to make money out of an innovative idea, it takes a viable ambitious business
concept – as a sound basis on which to set up a company. aws PreSeed helps to fund
costs incurred in the preliminary scientific research and the preparation of the commercial
utilisation of an innovative project. These include, for example, expenses for studies and
concepts, for consumable supplies or personnel, as a means to support and pave the path
for innovative projects on their way into business. The maximum grant is € 200,000 and
is paid out in tranches commensurate with success on the basis of a milestone concept.
www.preseed.at
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Interim Management
aws accompanies and supports high-tech enterprises throughout the startup and company
building phase. Also supported are spin-offs of university and non-university research
institutions.
The path to the successful founding and building of an innovative, internationally competitive
enterprise takes know-how, courage and capital. aws supports young high-tech companies
throughout their startup phase, funding, for example, direct founding costs as well as costs
for market development, external consulting or operating supplies. In addition, startups
are given individual assistance. The maximum conditionally repayable funding grant is
€ 800,000. Repayment is made from profits earned or from revenues from the sale, or IPO,
of the company.
www.seedfinancing.at
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aws provides assistance to high-tech startups in case of critical know-how deficits through
temporary deployment of external experts.
The startup phase poses particular challenges to the management team of an innovative
high-tech company. It is also the phase in which critical know-how deficits may make
themselves felt. The aws Interim Management programme helps young high-tech firms
funded through aws SeedFinancing to close such competency gaps. Funding is provided
to facilitate engagements of external experts in the areas of finance, sales and distribution
or technology, or to fill maternity leave vacancies. Funding covers 50% of consultancy costs
and is capped at € 50,000.
www.awsg.at/maz
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Information and
Communication Technology
10
Information and Communication Technology
11
Blue Danube Robotics
www.bluedanuberobotics.com
Blue Danube Robotics produces
tactile safety sensors.
AirSkin Safety provides industrial robots
and automated guided vehicles with a soft,
light-weight and touch-sensitive safety
surface that can be freely moulded to any
3D shape. AirSkin Safety is ideal whenever
emergency stops of a complex shape are
required. In addition, the Company offers
solutions for human/robot interaction
applicable to mobile robots for consumer
service use.
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Increasing the product range
Blue Danube Robotics plans to select a
new location in 2016 and to quickly extend
its production capacities as well as its
range of AirSkin products to applications
for smart homes and the Internet of Things.
While studying at the technical college,
Walter Wohlkinger already intended to set
up a business in the manufacturing sector.
His opportunity arose after he finished his
doctoral thesis on robotics. Co-founder
Michael Zillich had set his sights on
bringing to the market a sparkling idea from
academic research.
Even though both founders worked as
postdocs at the same institute of the Vienna
University of Technology, they heard about
each other’s intentions only at a founders’
workshop. They quickly grasped the
synergies to be obtained from their cooperation. Once they came into contact with
the market, the original idea of a helpinghand robot was adapted and the Company
is now selling its AirSkin robot skin as its first
separate product.
Blue Danube Robotics OG
Phorusgasse 8/11, 1040 Vienna
Founding year: 2013
Management: Dr. Walter Wohlkinger, Dr. Michael Zillich
www.bluedanuberobotics.com
Information and Communication Technology
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Geoprospectors
www.geoprospectors.com
Geoprospectors develops a
mapping system that automatically
collects 3D data of farming land
and transmits them to soil cultivation
systems.
Modern methods help to (site-specifically)
spot inhomogeneities in the soil. To this
end, it is necessary to map farmland with
maximum accuracy and send the spatial
data to the tilling equipment in digital
form. The object is to reduce the input of
consumables (fuel, fertiliser, seed, water)
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for the land to be cultivated and increase
its output (harvest) – which has a positive
impact in economic as much as ecological
terms.
Efficient soil cultivation
Geophysical mapping supplies the 3D soil
information required for steering the tilling
machines. The readings are combined
with mathematical-statistical methods to
generate accurate models of the rootpermeable layer of topsoil. Geoprospectors
is developing a prototype electromagnetic
mapping system (TopSoil Mapper) which,
installed on motor tractors, automatically
furnishes farmers with the requisite data to
steer the tilling machine.
Market introduction
planned for 2016
The system is thoroughly tested and
improved on experimental fields in
collaboration with the Vienna University of
Natural Resources and Life Sciences, after
which it will be presented to experts on the
ground, i.a. at the Agritechnica trade fair
in November 2015, and brought onto the
market. Proper marketing will be started
Geoprospectors KG
Bachgasse 10, 2340 Mödling
Founding year: 2014
Management: DI Michael Pregesbauer,
Mag. Matthias Nöster
www.geoprospectors.com
Information and Communication Technology
15
Ticket Gretchen
www.ticketgretchen.com
and the first small series launched in 2016.
In the long term, the Company also plans
to develop systems adapted for the use
of utility companies, with automated 3D
soil mapping done by devices that can
be installed on underground construction
vehicles. The four founding partners,
Matthias Nöster, Michael Pregesbauer,
Immo Trinks and Klaus Löcker (see photo
on p. 15), met while applying prospecting
systems to archaeological purposes.
Ticket Gretchen is a mobile
ticketing app that offers culture
tickets on the go: straight
from first information to user
recommendations to ticket
purchase.
Just three steps to get a culture ticket: the
app provides an overview of the rich cultural
scene and is intuitive and quick to handle.
Ticket Gretchen combines information,
recommendations and ticket purchasing
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for cultural events in a single app that
runs on smartphones and tablets. Its
unique selling point is its live interface with
the internal ticketing systems of cultural
institutions which allows direct booking.
Ticket Gretchen thus acts as their ‘extended
sales arm’, thereby going easy on own
resources. App contents such as photos,
descriptions and videos are automatically
generated from their respective websites.
The ticketing app is based on several
innovations in the use of big data analytics
which are designed to help cultural
institutions to increase their attendance
Information and Communication Technology
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© Laura Böhler 18
information and recommendations for
events.
Collaborating with the Vienna University
of Technology, the Ticket Gretchen team
has developed an algorithm for forecasting
attendance rates and financial capacities
of individual productions. The forecasts
are used as underpinnings for another
of the Company’s research priorities:
revenue management, which will help
cultural institutions to raise capacity
utilisation and sales figures by a targeted
pricing policy.
In these times of ever scarcer resources
dedicated to art and culture, founders
Wolfgang Graf and Gerald Stockinger want
to help cultural institutions to improve their
revenues by offering a no-risk mobile sales
channel. More financial leeway translates
into more flexibility on artistic points, which
in turn contributes to preserving the wide
range of cultural activities offered in Europe.
© Laura Böhler rates and ticket revenues. A recommender
system is being developed with a view
to providing app users with personalised
Ticket Gretchen GmbH
Herrengasse 5/2/7, 1010 Vienna
Founding year: 2014
Management: Gerald Stockinger, Dr. Wolfgang Graf
www.ticketgretchen.com
Information and Communication Technology
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WUGGL
www.wuggl.com
WUGGL is a mobile optical
measuring device which allows
users to easily and quickly
determine the weight of pigs.
Optical ‘weighing’ works without the use
of mechanical weighing scales. WUGGL
offers a precise, effortless and quick way
to determine the live weight of pigs by
means of an optical measurement process
which allows feedlots to regularly check
their livestock’s weight with a minimum of
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effort. In porker production, the sales weight
of the animal decides on the economic
performance of the operation. The usual
methods, such as estimates (inaccurate),
tape-measuring (much work input and
inaccurate) and mechanical weighing (much
work input, makes animals nervous) have
not much improved over time.
in pig marketing. It boosts production
efficiency, greatly reduces the work input
by doing away with weighing and saves
on working hours. Once the product has
been successfully launched in Austria and
Germany, marketing is to be extended to
European countries and, later, internationally
through distributors.
Greater efficiency
By eliminating the need for weighing
scales and using a simple and contactless
method to calculate the weight of the
animal, WUGGL solves several problems
Weighing by photograph
The hardware and software that make up
WUGGL will be available in several versions:
a separate device that includes the software
or a 3D sensor attachment to a smartphone
WUGGL GmbH
Göttling 6, 8403 Lebring
Founding year: 2015
Management: Mag. Marcus Schweinzger, Dr. Alois Temmel
www.wuggl.com
Information and Communication Technology
21
bitmovin
www.bitmovin.net
bitmovin aims to offer the world’s
most powerful products for highly
efficient streaming and provision of
multimedia data on the internet.
and software application (mobile app).
The weight is measured by taking a fullbody snapshot of the animal. The device
instantly calculates and shows the weight
on the display. The innovative device, its
great economic advantages and low price
make for a large sales potential. In 2012,
762 million pigs were raised worldwide.
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Simplifying workflows and improving
profitability are increasingly relevant and
important aspects of pig-raising in all parts
of the world.
bitmovin was founded in 2012 as a spinoff of the University of Klagenfurt where
founders Stefan Lederer, Christopher Müller
and Christian Timmerer helped define
the new ISO/IEC MPEG-DASH streaming
standard. The team produced outstanding
research results, developing a large number
of open-source tools that were welcomed
worldwide.
Technological edge
The positive market feedback convinced
them to bring their cutting-edge knowhow to the market, specialising in adaptive
streaming in the internet, and especially
the latest standards of MPEG and IETF.
This offers the Company an opportunity
to operate as a worldwide technological
pioneer, even beating established market
companies. The bitmovin portfolio
includes the cloud-based transcoding
Information and Communication Technology
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© Johannes Puch
media providers around the world to
furnish their video content at a better
quality to end users while being more cost
efficient at the same time.
and streaming service bitcodin, which
transcodes video content at a significantly
faster rate than comparable services do
(a two-hour HD video takes only a few
minutes, while competitors need several
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hours). bitmovin also offers bitdash, a
player optimised for mobile units which
provides up to 100% better streaming
quality than comparable products at the
same bandwidth. Both products allow
World-wide sales
In a first round in 2014 bitmovin obtained
funding from institutional investors and
public funding agencies. This will help the
Company to develop its products and
distribute them internationally. The objective
is to further simplify the provision of video
content through a platform that integrates
the two bitmovin products.
bitmovin GmbH
Lakeside B01, 9020 Klagenfurt
Founding year: 2012 (OG), 2013 (GmbH)
Management: Mag. DI Stefan Lederer,
DI Christopher Müller
www.bitmovin.net
Information and Communication Technology
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CARGOMETER
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CARGOMETER® identifies lossmaking freight without changing
the logistics processes by ‘on-thefly’ metering on the moving fork-lift
truck.
the volume of their cargo because of the
artificial bottlenecks that current metering
systems create in cross-dock terminals. As
a consequence, the entire sector relies on
guesswork when billing its most valuable
resource – cargo space.
the loading gates of the cross-dock
terminal where each pallet needs to pass
through. With this method, CARGOMETER®
guarantees that the logistic processes
remain unaffected and that cargo space
will be billed correctly.
Currently, 15% of all pallets transported in
less-than-truckload logistics are billed at
rates that are too low. As a result, Austrian
and German cargo carriers are missing
out on € 500 million each year. The basic
problem is that cargo carriers rarely meter
3D metering of freights in motion
CARGOMETER® is developing systems
for 3D freight metering without disrupting
established logistic processes. The
Company’s main innovations consist of ‘onthe-fly’ metering on the fork-lift truck while it
is moving and the location of the metering:
“Each millimetre counts”
With their CARGOMETER® product,
founders Michael Baumgartner and
Ludwig Österreicher intend to establish
a new standard for freight clearing and
to optimise the utilisation of large truck
fleets.
© Klaus Ranger www.cargometer.at
CARGOMETER GmbH
Heimgasse 9, 1230 Vienna
Founding year: 2014
Management: Dr. Michael Baumgartner,
Dr. Ludwig Österreicher
www.cargometer.at
Information and Communication Technology
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ecosio
www.ecosio.com
ecosio provides intelligent
solutions for optimising data-related
supply chain management in
enterprises.
The Company‘s service portfolio includes
solutions for direct integration of EDI
(electronic data interchange) into enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems known as
ecosio.ERPEL, as well as customised EDI
solutions, web-based EDI and products
for e-invoicing. ecosio’s target groups are
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retailers, logistics providers and industrial
producers, as well as information, tourism
and financial services.
Huge market
ecosio offers suitable products for
companies of any size, from SMEs
exchanging only a small number of
documents to large corporations with
thousands of document exchanges per day.
At present, the Company focuses on around
800 in a total of 50,000 businesses, with
up to 250 staff each, located in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland. The greatest
challenge for ecosio’s management is to
strategically screen business opportunities in
a potentially huge global market. In the future,
every company with high-frequency data
exchange will need EDI.
Affordable solutions for SMEs
Existing solutions typically make economic
sense for large wholesale businesses,
but ecosio’s goal is to provide affordable
and efficient options for as many SMEs
as possible and to thoroughly cover the
supplier and distributor market. ecosio’s
founders share a passion for developing
ecosio GmbH
Wiedner Hauptstraße 52, 1040 Vienna
Founding year: 2013
Management: Dr. Marco Zapletal, Dr. Christoph Ebm,
Dr. Philipp Liegl
www.ecosio.com
Information and Communication Technology
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NeuKurs
www.neukurs.com
intelligent software that accelerates
global business transactions and
streamlines excessive input in companies’
work processes. The idea to start a
business developed from the observation
that, while the electronic age has generated
huge volumes of data, electronic data
interchange still lacks a proper professional
approach.
ecosio.ERPEL is characterised by
systematic standardisation and
harmonisation of ERP systems, file formats,
and transfer channels. This allows electronic
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data interchange between ERPEL-enabled
ERP installations without the need for
special adaptation and at competitive
rates.
NeuKurs provides business knowhow in small digital learning units.
any time and place. Transfer materials help
apply this newly gained knowledge.
At present, users can access some 1600
learning units available in the form of digital
index cards at www.neukurs.com. Each of
these cards offers answers to questions on
and guidance through the daily routines of
business life in just one to three minutes.
The units are produced by specially selected
business trainers in the form of videos,
audios and downloads to enable SMEs to
access hands-on business know-how at
Transparent learning progress
www.neukurs.com provides the means
to create personalised accounts for staff
members. These accounts handle the
supply of further education and training on
a continuous basis, with an opportunity to
recapitulate at any time what has already
been learned – the content is accessible
everywhere. Progress thus becomes
transparent for staff members and their line
managers alike.
Information and Communication Technology
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Relevant knowledge served
in bite-size chunks
The challenge for NeuKurs is to convert
trainers’ know-how into curiosity-arousing
units that meet the requirement for
straightforward, easily accessible and
relevant training. The Company’s task is
to identify the core content so as to make
access to further education and training
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as convenient as possible. Moreover, the
content has to be presented so attractively
that it entices users to take up the offer. The
right technology is the key to a motivating
learning experience. In the future, learning
will become ever more interactive, featuring
such elements as personalised profiles,
gamification and direct interaction with
trainers.
NeuKurs has its origin in the experience
its founder gained while teaching courses
at SMEs. This in turn taught him that all
young entrepreneurs basically have similar
further education and training needs and
face similar obstacles. With the help of new
technologies and small digital learning units
he has turned this insight into a business
model.
NeuKurs GmbH
Edelhofgasse 10, 1180 Vienna
Founding year: 2013
Management: Dr. Felix Dibelka
www.neukurs.com
Information and Communication Technology
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sofasession
sofasession develops applications
for musicians that foster creative
exchange and musical interaction
based on modern technologies.
The Company focuses on applications
which use the internet for musical
co-operation. The main application of
sofasession enables (hobby) musicians
to find other musicians over the internet
and to make music with them online and
in realtime. Today’s musicians typically get
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together for a session offline, which involves
complex co-ordination and transport
activities. It also requires renting an actual
physical room for rehearsals.
Rapid transmission without
loss of audio quality
The software offered by sofasession needs
to have much faster transmission rates than
conventional audio conferencing systems.
The engineering challenge is to achieve
such rates without incurring too much
loss in the audio quality. An intuitive user
interface is an absolute must to make the
© Gabriel Ptacek
www.sofasession.com
product user-friendly for a wide range of
musicians.
sofasession’s mission is to make the creative
exchange between musicians of all levels
easy, entertaining and spontaneous. The
Company currently markets its applications
in the German-speaking countries and
intends to enter the markets in the rest of
Europe (especially in countries with a high
concentration of musicians).
Own experience in making music
Both founders of sofasession have a
sofasession GmbH
Favoritenstraße 4–6/2/13, 1040 Vienna
Founding year: 2014
Management: Mag. Helmut Herglotz
www.sofasession.com
Information and Communication Technology
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zoomsquare
www.zoomsquare.com
musical background, but worked in other
areas before joining forces. The idea of
founding a company came from their
personal experience of the complexities
and complications involved in making
music together. Their wish to make things
easier for fellow musicians caused them
to start up a business of their own in 2014.
The sofasession team is convinced that by
combining creativity and technology it is
possible to create the perfect environment
for online musical interaction.
The IT startup zoomsquare
provides a search engine for
house-hunting that matches
house-hunters’ requirements to
internet listings.
The search engine is the first to use
semantic text analysis, geo-coding
and matching algorithms to scan all
online offers and automatically match
them to personalised search profiles. The
process is massively time-saving, easy
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and clear to use, and it delivers personalised
results.
Ease of use, excellent results
zoomsquare covers over 400 real estate
listings and has already registered 30,000
users (as of January 2015), which makes
it the largest house-hunting site in Austria.
The search yields practical links to real
estate pages, to which information on
the location and environment is added
as an extra. Even results that do not fully
match are shown, with deviating elements
indicated and quantified.
Information and Communication Technology
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Expansion abroad
zoomsquare will go international in
2015. Having already gained several
awards, the startup aims to become the
‘Google of the Real Estate Business’.
As co-founder Christoph Richter says:
“We set up zoomsquare because we
personally had to go through the tiresome
business of house-hunting. It was clear
to us that state-of-the-art technology
can take much of the bother out of it.
It is enormously exciting to develop a
product for our users, especially when
you see that thousands are suddenly
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eager to take it up and actually benefit
from our product.”
zoomsquare GmbH
Pfenninggeldgasse 15–17/Hof, 1160 Vienna
Founding year: 2013
Management: Dr. Andreas Langegger
www.zoomsquare.com
Information and Communication Technology
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MKWE
www.smartbow.at
Success Stories
Anybody taking a closer look at the Austrian
startup scene will soon realise that its innovative
power and variety know virtually no bounds.
New ideas are found everywhere – some of them will
be presented in this publication.
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MKWE develops innovative
products for animal farming.
MKWE is fully committed to cuttingedge technologies. Its key product is
SMARTBOW® – a livestock management
system for dairy farms. The animals are
marked with an ear tag that incorporates
a small transmitter equipped with state-ofthe-art sensors. Receivers, similar to the
satellites in a GPS system, are mounted
throughout the barn and outdoor areas to
enable real-time locating of the animals.
In addition, animal activities like ruminating,
lying and walking can be monitored and
analysed around the clock. If an animal falls
ill, its behaviour changes. SMARTBOW® is
able to spot any such abnormalities early
on and to alert users (farmer, farmworker,
veterinarian) so that they can respond
immediately and single out the animal for
treatment. This helps to improve animal
health, cutting back on labour and cost per
animal, and increasing farm efficiency.
Jointly with international research partners,
MKWE has already invested over € 3 million
Information and Communication Technology
41
in developing SMARTBOW®. Its number one
target group are medium- to large-sized
dairy operations because they typically
have an increasing need for technological
assistance in herd management.
Market potential
In the long term, the targeted export rate is
close to 100%. The German market alone
involves a potential of approximately 2.4
million dairy cows. Assuming an average
selling price of € 120 per animal, this adds
up to a total market value of almost € 290
million. Worldwide there are 1.5 billon cattle.
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MKW electronics GmbH
Jutogasse 3, 4675 Weibern
Founding year: 2009
Management: Wolfgang Auer (CEO),
Mag. Jörg Schlipfinger (CFO)
www.smartbow.at
Information and Communication Technology
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Secure Payment Technologies
www.bluecode.com
The German and Austrian markets are
canvassed directly, and the Company is
setting up a distributor network for the other
European countries.
Farmers can combine the various
SMARTBOW® products – heat alerts,
real-time locators and rumination
monitoring – to cover their specific
requirements, thus getting a solution
that is optimally tailored to their needs.
With every new version, additional features,
such as calving detection, will be added.
Secure Payment Technologies
(SPT), domiciled in Innsbruck,
specialises in the development of
mobile payment technologies for
banks and retailers.
SPT’s Blue Code app provides a unique
solution for mobile payments. The app
allows customers to pay at checkouts fitted
with barcode scanners using barcode
technology on the smartphone – and
without sending any sensitive and personal
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data. Banks and retailers can easily and
cheaply integrate the payment solution into
their payment processes. The system’s
simple handling requires little training for the
cashpoint staff.
Customer-friendly and secure
Customers can currently use the app to pay
at all outlets of Billa and Merkur, Hartlauer
and MPreis. At present, Blue Code is the
only nationwide mobile payment app that
can be used in retail stores throughout
the territory of Austria. It cuts down on
the interaction time required at the cash
Information and Communication Technology
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desk, strengthens the retailer’s brand and
enhances customer loyalty as the app is
compatible with all retailer programmes.
In 2014, Blue Code got top marks in
the benchmark survey carried out by
management consultants Mücke, Sturm &
Company, scoring particularly high on
usability and security.
Roll-out in other countries
An international expansion drive is planned
for 2015. The Company is currently busy
rolling out its payment technology in
other European countries. In the coming
months, it will announce many new retail
partners which will introduce Blue Code
as an innovative payment solution for their
customers.
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Founder Michael Suitner was looking for
an idea for a high-tech company when
he noticed that there was no user-friendly
solution for paying by mobile phone in retail
stores. With this app the Company aims
to become a reliable technology partner
for retailers and banks, offering a payment
solution that is tailored to the needs of retail
chains, checkout staff and customers.
Secure Payment Technologies GmbH
Klosterangerstraße 7/4, 6020 Innsbruck
Founding year: 2011
Management: Dr. Michael Suitner
www.bluecode.com
Information and Communication Technology
47
Physical Sciences
48
Physical Sciences
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XPowerLab
www.XPowerLab.com
The Company offers a novel
solution for supplying electricity to
decentralised small- to mediumpowered users (motors, sensors,
actuators, etc.).
The supply system is based on the principle
that the electric energy provided from
the grid at a frequency of 50 to 60 Hz is
converted into a much higher frequency
using a resonance converter. The resultant
high frequency is then fed to the individual
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output modules which generate the required
supply voltage, such as 12, 24 or 48 volts,
or feed the electricity directly to the motor or
actuator.
Flexible and inexpensive
The key advantage of the Company’s
solution is that voltages can be output in
discretionary sequential arrangements and
spacings. To give an example: the system
supplies 24 volts to a sensor while at the
same time directly driving a motor. The
result is greater flexibility. Another feature is
simple, quick and low-cost installation. The
components (such as resonance converter,
output modules) are small, light-weight
and inexpensive, which translates into cost
savings of up to 50% over conventional
systems.
Market entry in logistics
The underlying principle has many
applications, chiefly in plant engineering as
well as the automobile and aviation industry.
At present, the Company is developing
solutions for the logistics market. Once the
system has been launched in this market,
distribution is to be expanded and the
XPowerLab GmbH (in its founding stage)
Triester Straße 243, 8073 Feldkirchen b. Graz
Founding year: 2015
Management: DI Dr. Erwin Reisinger
www.XPowerLab.com
Physical Sciences
51
Authentic Vision
www.authenticvision.com
technology extended to the aviation and
automobile industries. Next to mastering
the many technological challenges and
obtaining the requisite funding, the
Company needs to obtain CE and UL
certification, which is problematic in that
currently valid standards and regulations
do not fully cover the scope of the supply
system.
The development was triggered by a
potential customer who wished for simpler
energy supply solutions for distributed
drives. Upon doing concept studies and
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simulations and constructing a functional
prototype Erwin Reisinger recognised the
market potential and decided to set up
an enterprise. He had been tinkering with
such concepts more than 25 years ago as
an assistant university professor, but the
requisite technological facilities were not
yet sufficiently available. Improvements in
component technology have now made his
concept viable.
Authentic Vision offers a
patented tamper-proof solution
that provides brand, value and
product protection against
counterfeiting and enables direct
customer communication.
Authentic Vision has developed
product labels combining randomly
generated holograms and encrypted
QR codes into a unique non-reproducible
security combination. The result is
as unique as a fingerprint and proof
against copying and counterfeiting.
For the first time, consumers can
directly authenticate a product without
the need for specialised knowledge or
additional equipment, simply by using
a freely available app (CheckIfReal).
Businesses profit from the protection
the label offers against piracy, thereby
preserving its market value, and an
innovative opportunity to communicate
directly with and gain information from
the customer.
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53
member of the IPM segment of the World
Customs Organization (WCO). Furthermore,
Authentic Vision has collected international
stakeholders who have invested € 900,000
to accelerate the fine-tuning and market
adaptation of its product.
Rapid growth
Founded in 2012, the Company has since
set a highly dynamic pace in its growth by
quickly expanding from one to twelve staff
in its short history. Moreover, it has obtained
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ten external partners in several countries
and has already registered six patents.
Strong distributor partners are Altus
Alliance in the USA and Colprint in Latin
America. In 2014, the Company became a
Authentic Vision GmbH
Josef-Mayburger-Kai 114/10, 5020 Salzburg
Founding year: 2012
Management: Thomas Weiß (CEO),
Jürgen Mathwich (COO)
www.authenticvision.com
Physical Sciences
55
endiio
endiio develops and markets
a novel low-power and realtime
radio technology for the Internet
of Things.
Applications for low-powered radio
technology are found in the smart home
(web-linked home technology, white goods
and consumer electronics), photovoltaics,
smart manufacturing (intelligent production
machines) and the smart grid (intelligent
power supply). The main challenge in fitting
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a sensor into each object of a given system
is to make provision for their electricity
consumption as this affects their useful
life, maintenance requirements, reach,
real-time and mesh network capability and
robustness.
Much lower power consumption
endiio solves this problem by using a new
communication technology which, in its
realtime mode, consumes 10,000 times
less electricity than conventional systems. A
software-based wake-up strategy ensures
that sensors in sleep mode can be triggered
at any time. endiio has developed the
hard- and software that enables customers
to integrate the technology into their own
systems – quickly and without any bother.
Making objects ‘smart’ requires microsensors, and endiio supplies the requisite
technology. In the long-term, the Company
intends to launch its technology in many
different fields. The two founders see their
greatest challenge in canvassing the market:
some potential customers are multinationals
which makes it difficult to identify and
access the right contact.
endiio GmbH
c/o CAST Gründungszentrum GmbH,
Wilhelm-Greil-Straße 15, 6020 Innsbruck
Founding year: 2014
Management: Dr. Tolgay Ungan, Mag. Patrick Steindl
Physical Sciences
57
Fresnex
www.fresnex.com
Fresnex provides a new solar steam
system for industrial applications.
Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems
focus the sunlight to generate steam.
Fresnex complements the technology by
a novel mirror bearing, in this way making
it economically feasible for the first time
to implement even small-scale projects.
The requisite components are all placed
on a single factory-assembled board. The
result is the world’s first autonomous mirror
system that automatically tracks the sun.
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Industry can save
on fossil fuels
As a components supplier, Fresnex
intends to concentrate on the sale
of its mirror modules to general
contractors who will then purchase
all the other components required to
construct the complete solar field. Its
target groups include enterprises in
the food, paper and chemical industries
which normally use gas- or oil-powered
boilers for steam generation as well as
biomass boilers and waste heat
recovery systems.
The Fresnex module enables operators to
obtain part of their energy needs from the
sun. The existing system then serves as a
backup so that the user can save on (fossil)
fuel consumption. The relatively expensive
investment comes into its own in the long
run – Fresnex supplies a very long-lived and
energy-efficient product. The investment
pays for itself through the savings on fossil
fuels after which it generates energy at
almost no cost.
Other applications
The mirror module is good for several
Fresnex GmbH
Brown-Boveri-Straße 1, 2351 Wiener Neudorf
Founding year: 2012
Management: DI Hartmut Schneider MBA (CEO),
DI Denis Miklau (CTO)
www.fresnex.com
Physical Sciences
59
USound
www.usound-tech.com
more applications. From today’s view,
concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and hybrid
systems which combine photovoltaic
and solar power promise to be stronggrowth markets. Moreover, solar hydrogen
production is a major research field
worldwide that offers considerable market
potential. Suitably adapted, the mirror
module could well be used for these
applications.
USound is a developer and
producer of MEMS-based audio
components for smartphones
and other consumer electronics
applications.
The Company supplies customers in the
consumer electronics industry with audio
components that use the novel technology
of microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS), thereby opening up many quality
audio applications that are better integrated
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and have smaller form factors. By 2017,
some 1.7 billion smartphones are expected
to be sold per year, which will incorporate
an ever greater number of functionalities –
packed in a slim design.
Decisive advantage
USound products combine high audio
quality with maximum integration and
small build, offering end users and
smartphone producers alike a decisive
advantage over conventional microspeaker
products. By using cutting-edge technology
and integrating MEMS audio elements,
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61
control electronics and audio codec in
a single product, USound is in the best
position to meet the requirements of this
dynamic market.
Strong customer interest
Early target market contacts by the
Company have identified a strong customer
interest for a large number of other audio
applications beyond the conventional use
as loudspeakers in mobile devices. The
use of MEMS technology enables USound
to provide novel audio components
for a broad range of applications that
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demand good quality and high integration
while meeting restrictive form-factor
requirements.
USound Technology OG
Plüddemanngasse 39, 8010 Graz
Founding year: 2013
Management: Dr. Jörg Schönbacher,
DI Andrea Rusconi-Clerici, DI Ferruccio Bottoni
www.usound-tech.com
Physical Sciences
63
wInterface
www.winterface.at
www.seedfinancing.at
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wInterface is an R&D company that
specialises in retrofitted thermal
insulation systems. It has launched a
patented, modular façade insulation
system along with the appropriate
production plant.
industrially prefabricated, made-to-measure
modular insulation elements in conjunction
with an optimised attachment system
enormously simplifies façade insulation
as compared to conventional systems.
Installation now takes just four days instead
of one month.
In automating the production of high-tech
insulation elements and their attachment
system the Company has digitalised
the entire process of providing thermal
insulation for buildings. The use of
Installation possible year-round
As the insulation elements are prefabricated
inside the factory building, high-quality
production and installation are possible
regardless of the weather and season.
This not only cuts costs but also saves
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65
considerably on resources. In line with the
new Construction Products Regulation, the
patented attachment system, moreover,
permits quick and dust-free dismantling.
Thanks to digital FRESCO™, a technique
using robots to apply digital pictures to the
surface of façade modules, buildings can be
given a new visual identity.
Using wInterface technology, retrofitted
thermal insulation can save 75 megatonnes
in crude imports across the European
Union, which is currently worth more than
€ 40 billion. This corresponds to around
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7.5% of the EU’s total energy consumption
and a reduction of CO2 emissions by 230
megatonnes. By granting licences for
production plants, wInterface intends to
develop a market not just for new buildings
but also for the thermal insulation of existing
prefabricated buildings, and especially
houses built during the housing boom of the
1960s to 1980s. Such refurbishment would
benefit the environment as much as about
half of those in the EU who live in large panel
system buildings.
wInterface GmbH
Mariatroster Straße 158, 8044 Graz
Founding year: 2014
Management: DI Wolfgang Winter,
Dr. Ingo C. Riemenschneider
www.winterface.at
Physical Sciences
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Life Sciences
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Bringing life sciences to life
Austria as a business location will profit from the most innovative ideas only once they have
made it from the lab to the market. Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) has established Life
Science Austria (LISA) as a one-stop-shop programme that supports the entire value-added
chain of startups in the life sciences. LISA’s four pillars – Foster, Finance, Fuel and Advance –
provide tailor-made support at every stage of development.
www.lifescienceaustria.at
Fostering entrepreneurial spirit
aws organises the Best of Biotech (BOB) business plan competition every other year to
foster an entrepreneurial culture in the life sciences. By providing individualised coaching, the
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competition wants to motivate scientists to translate their research findings into professional
business plans. Participants can win attractive cash prizes for the best business plan and the
best business idea.
www.bestofbiotech.at
Moreover, aws LISA offers expert advice and due diligence checks in the pre-startup phase.
The most recent addition is a life sciences tech transfer centre established to facilitate
infrastructure sharing and the creation of networks of excellence in the life sciences.
Financing new ventures
LISA PreSeed and LISA Seedfinancing are two aws funding programmes customised to
support startup ideas in the biotechnology and medical technology sectors.
www.preseed.at
www.seedfinancing.at
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Fuelling the sector
LISA International Marketing advertises the Austrian life sciences sector on an international
level and is the first point of contact for enquiries. Marketing Austria as a life sciences
location and propagating its success stories in research and the business world strengthen
Austria’s position in international markets. Main activities include maintaining a regular
and high-profile presence at leading international life sciences events and public relations
measures. LISA International Marketing also acts as an umbrella organisation for the
international activities of the five Austrian life sciences clusters. In addition, aws LISA
supports companies in obtaining follow-up financing and offers lectures tailored to the
needs of this sector.
Advancing the best ideas
aws LISA prepares statistics, analyses and studies to help decision-makers in key positions
take measures that ensure the competitiveness of Austria’s life sciences sector.
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Antagonis
www.antagonis.com
The biotech company Antagonis
investigates and develops novel
biopharmaceuticals, i.e. proteinbased medicines, for clinical
applications.
Antagonis is a spin-off of the University of
Graz, where the Company currently has its
headquarters and laboratories. The lead
compound is ATG01, a mutant isoform of
the chemokine (signalling protein) MCP-1/
CCL2, which is fused to a carrier protein
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(human serum albumin) and which is
planned be used in metastasising
lung cancer. A patent has been filed for
both the product and the manufacturing
process.
Translating research
into therapy
The driving force behind founding Antagonis
was the desire to ‘translate’ scientific
findings, obtained in the laboratory, into
therapies against human diseases, i.e.
to develop novel medicines based on
academic research results and technologies.
Antagonis’ specific mission is to provide a
novel class of targets in the human body
and to make them accessible to therapeutic
intervention. These targets are glycans which
represent complex sugar molecules on the
surface of human cells.
Using a different technology and different
products, ProtAffin Biotechnologie AG – a
company also established by the scientific
founder Andreas Kungl – was able to
achieve partial success for a different
indication. Antagonis’ GAGbody™ technology
represents a significantly improved and more
Antagonis Biotherapeutics GmbH
c/o Universität Graz, Institut für Pharmazeutische
Wissenschaften, Schubertstraße 1, 8010 Graz
Founding year: 2015
Management: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Kungl,
Frank Walsh Ph. D.
www.antagonis.com
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CYPRUMED
www.cyprumed.net
specifically targeting technology, which can
still draw on ProtAffin’s know-how.
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The first step is the hardest
In addition to constantly improving and
expanding the GAGbody™ technology
platform by new products and applications,
the two founders of Antagonis – Andreas
Kungl (professor at the University of Graz)
and Frank Walsh (CEO of Ossianix and
long-term R&D head at Wyeth) – consider
financing the early preclinical development
of ATG01 as the greatest challenge.
CYPRUMED develops
an oral peptide delivery
technology.
Therapeutic peptide drugs have become
one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical
areas. This development is due to the fact
that these biological drugs act specifically
and thus have fewer side effects. Moreover,
they can also be used to treat diseases for
which no satisfactory therapy has so far
been developed.
Oral rather than intravenous
administration
However, this type of drugs has a
clear disadvantage. To date, therapeutic
peptides cannot be administered orally,
i.e. in the form of a tablet, but must be
injected. Drug injections are, however,
associated with pain and can cause
local irritation and inflammation at the
injection site. The vast majority of
patients would therefore prefer an oral
drug dosage form. CYPRUMED’s
technology reduces the enzymatic
degradation of peptides in the
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© ClipDealer Plans for the future
CYPRUMED’s founder, Florian Föger,
considers it very motivating to be able to
implement an idea you are convinced of. In
his opinion, witnessing the development of
your own startup from the idea to the market
is the exciting part of founding a business.
CYPRUMED currently negotiates cooperations with pharmaceutical companies
and plans to do its first clinical study.
gastrointestinal tract after oral
administration while increasing oral
absorption. In preclinical studies with
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different peptides oral bioavailability of
up to 70% could be achieved (relative to
subcutaneous injection).
CYPRUMED GmbH
Kreidweg 27, 6416 Obsteig
Founding year: 2015
Management: Dr. Florian Föger
www.cyprumed.net
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FIANOSTICS
www.fianostics.at
FIANOSTICS develops highly
sensitive tests for serum
biomarkers.
Serum biomarkers, i.e. biological molecules
that circulate in the blood of patients and
whose amounts change in response to
diseases, are an essential part of modern
medical science. They are used to gather
data about disease progression, to assess
the risks of given population groups and
to evaluate the efficacy of new therapies.
As the blood of patients frequently
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contains only very small amounts of these
biomarkers, the sensitivity of test methods
must be continuously raised.
Utilising DVD production
technology
Metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) is
a promising technology to deliver such
highly sensitive tests. MEF is based on
the electromagnetic interaction of
excitation light with nanometre-sized
metal structures, which dramatically
increases the quantum yield of fluorescent
molecules in the immediate vicinity of the
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81
metal structures. This increase in light
yield can be used to generate highly
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sensitive biomarker tests. So far, the
commercialisation of MEF for clinical
tests has been unsuccessful due to the
inadequate reproducibility of the nanometal structures and the non-availability
of suitable biomarker fluorescence
tests. FIANOSTICS will co-operate
with Sony DADC BioSciences to
solve these problems by combining
highly reproducible nano-structuring
technologies, originally developed for
Blu-Ray and DVD manufacturing, with
long-term experience in biomarker
development.
Promising areas of application
FIANOSTICS will initially focus on diseases
of the bone and cartilage metabolism (e.g.
osteoporosis) and on neurological diseases
(e.g. Alzheimer’s) in a later stage. In view of
the demographic development, these areas
will become ever more important. Hence,
the Company assumes that clinical research
will particularly benefit from these new
biomarker tests. First product releases are
scheduled for 2016.
FIANOSTICS GmbH
Viktor-Kaplan-Straße 2, 2700 Wiener Neustadt
Founding year: 2015
Management: Dr. Gerhard Hawa
www.fianostics.at
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Vienna Translational Skin R&D Initiative
The Company uses a new
concept to develop therapies for
chronic wounds.
Chronic wounds are a major global health
problem. One to two percent of the
population in the western world are affected
and the incidence is likely to increase. The
market potential for wound care products is
estimated to be more than US$ 18 billion in
2021. Standard therapies include bandages,
surgical wound edge resection, infection
control and vacuum therapy. Regranex®,
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the only registered pharmacological agent,
is inefficient. Hence, there is considerable
need for more efficient therapies for
chronic, non-healing wounds. The failure
of previous therapeutic approaches in
clinical settings may be due to the fact
that we do not yet sufficiently understand
the pathomechanisms underlying chronic
human wounds.
Systems-biological approach
The executives in charge of the Vienna
Translational Skin R&D Initiative propose
a systems-biology-driven translational
drug discovery approach for the therapy
of chronic wounds. The unique concept
is based on a holistic understanding of
organisms and takes advantage of the
fact that the pathogenic drivers of wound
chronicity are contained in the patient
material. Using patient samples, the
Company has established novel assay
systems, which it will use for compound
screening and profiling. The Company plans
to patent its drug candidates and to develop
them in co-operation with external partners.
Vienna Translational Skin R&D Initiative
Prefounding phase since December 2014
Founding team: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anton Stütz,
Dr. Barbara Wolff-Winiski
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Miti Biosystems
www.mitibio.com
Miti Biosystems develops a
flexible and powerful RiPP platform
technology for the discovery and
development of polycyclic peptides
as therapeutics.
Polycyclic peptides have the high binding
specificity and selectivity of antibodies while
featuring many of the drug-like properties
of small molecules. There is a huge market
for therapeutics in the size range between
small molecules and biologics and Miti
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Biosystems aims to capture a substantial
share of it.
Almost unrivalled
Miti Biosystems harnesses the unique ability
of specialised enzymes from nature to
form specific intramolecular bonds in short
peptides, thus generating cyclic structures
which are extremely stable and bioactive.
Based on the well-established drug-like
properties of RiPPs (ribosomally synthesised
post-translationally modified peptides)
found in nature, the Company wants to
generate a modality with antibody-like
binding affinity and specificity in a structural
format. It will be orally bioavailable and able
to cross plasma membranes to address
key intracellular targets. Few, if any, of the
current constrained peptide/macrocycle
competitor companies have technologies
which are able to reliably achieve this
optimal set of product characteristics.
Patented since 2010
In 2010, Guntram Christiansen, one of the
Company’s founding fathers who worked
at the Austrian Academy of Sciences at
Mondsee at the time, filed the first patent
Miti Biosystems GmbH
c/o Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Dr.-Bohr-Gasse 9/2, 1030 Vienna
Founding year: 2014
Management: Dr. Guntram Christiansen,
Dr. Jason H. Slingsby
www.mitibio.com
Life Sciences
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application for a technology that has the
potential to create a huge diversity of
RiPP-like chemical structures which can be
conveniently screened for activities against
proteins that cause diseases in humans.
products and aims to also take them into
clinical development.
Miti Biosystems’ long-term aspiration is to
collaborate with a number of pharmaceutical
companies and biotechs using its RiPP
platform technology to achieve some midterm revenues. In the future licences are to
be obtained for products that the Company
identifies as having a potential for success.
In parallel, the Company will develop its own
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ORIGIMM
www.origimm.com
ORIGIMM is an innovative biotech
company striving to become a
market leader in the treatment of
infectious diseases and pathogenassociated dermatological
conditions.
Despite billions of dollars spent on acne
treatments every year, having an acnefree skin remains wishful thinking for many
individuals. Current products on the market
are, at best, effective in a handful of patients
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only, do not offer long-term solutions and
tend to have severe side effects. Moreover,
dermatological diseases such as acne put a
huge emotional burden on those afflicted.
A vaccine to cure acne
The immune therapy developed by
ORIGIMM directly attacks the causal agent
of acne, i.e. Propionibacterium acnes, thus
offering an effective, lasting and welltolerated solution. The acne vaccination
can also be used as a preventive measure.
After all, acne affects as many as 85% of all
teenagers and more than 25% of all young
adults. One in ten chronic acne patients still
suffers from acne in and even beyond their
40s or 50s.
Other immune therapies
ORIGIMM’s proprietary ProVaDis®
technology platform for identifying
molecular therapeutic targets greatly
accelerates the development of new
immune therapies. It enables the quick
and efficient selection of the best and
most protective antigens from thousands
of candidates and significantly raises the
chances for success in clinical trials. The
ORIGIMM Biotechnology GmbH
Leberstraße 20, 1110 Vienna
Founding year: 2014
Management: Tamás Berke M. D. M. Sc.,
Sanja Selak Ph. D.
www.origimm.com
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Platomics
www.platomics.com
first product against acne will be followed
by other immune therapies based on the
ProVaDis® technology.
Both founders of ORIGIMM, Sanja Selak
and Tamás Berke, have long career
track records in academic and industrial
research. They decided to establish their
own business to be able to put their
long-standing expertise to remedying the
weaknesses in the development of targeted
and effective vaccines.
Platomic’s software eco-system
speeds up the transfer of
life sciences know-how from
research to laboratory and
clinical practice.
Platomics has developed an open software
platform for analysing large amounts of
complex biological data such as human
DNA sequences. As a result, SMEs
manufacturing medical test kits and devices
can enhance their physical products by
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powerful software analysis functions without
needing to employ a software development
team of their own. This lowers their barriers
to entering the market.
Easier accreditation
The researcher-friendly system facilitates
the co-operation of experts working in
different fields (e.g. bioinformatics,
genetics and statistics) and cuts the
costs and time needed for certifying and
marketing algorithms and workflows:
converting them into professional
software and commercialising them via
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Platomics’ online App Marketplace is a
matter of minutes and does not require
special IT know-how. This benefits end
users in medical diagnostic laboratories
because they get test kits that can easily
be integrated into accredited diagnostic
workflows.
Spin-out from AIT
Platomics CEO Albert Kriegner was in
charge of developing an early prototype
of the platform when he headed the
bioinformatics unit at the Austrian Institute
of Technology (AIT), which had struggled
through on combinations of partial solutions
for years. When Albert Kriegner noted
that the platform made the researchers
at the AIT more efficient, he recognised
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the potential for additional applications.
Platomics was founded as a spin-out in
2014 to commercialise the platform and
develop an app market place.
Having completed contracts with the first
customers, the next challenges are to attract
more manufacturers of medical products, to
enlarge the community of app developers
and to obtain the CE mark for the platform.
Platomics GmbH
Friedmanngasse 38–40/1/17, 1160 Vienna
Founding year: 2014
Management: DI Dr. Albert Kriegner
www.platomics.com
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95
roombiotic
www.roombiotic.com
roombiotic develops methods based
on volatile antimicrobial substances
to control microorganisms in the
food industry and selected areas
of application in the life sciences
industry.
The new methods developed by roombiotic
not only significantly raise quality assurance
and shelf life but also lower the proportion
of spoiled products. Depending on the
respective sector, the losses incurred are in
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the range of 12% to 18% and add up to an
annual amount of several hundred million
euros in Austria.
From lab to market
Initially a spin-off of Graz University of
Technology, the laboratory-oriented
group of scientists has become a marketoriented business that applies professional
processes and standards. roombiotic sells
and implements an effective and industrially
viable alternative to established methods
and substances. Besides developing its
biotechnological know-how, the group also
broadens its knowledge of process and
mechanical engineering, European and
national food legislation and state-of-the-art
analysis technology.
Application options in
the non-food sector
The methods developed by roombiotic
are primarily designed for bakery products
manufactured in large quantities, at a high
frequency and in great variety. Potential
growth areas are the meat-processing
and dairy industries and all types of food
packaging businesses. Moreover, there
roombiotic GmbH
Petersgasse 12/1, 8010 Graz
Founding year: 2014
Management: Mag. Rüdiger Istel
www.roombiotic.com
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TAmiRNA
www.tamirna.com
are a number of options for their use in the
non-food sector.
A detailed analysis and comprehensive
understanding of the manufacturing and
packaging process used is a prerequisite
for integrating the biotechnological methods
into a plant. All dimensions of the logistic
chain until actual consumption have to be
analysed from a microbiology and molecular
biology perspective. The challenge is to
safely implement all findings obtained in
the laboratory in an industrial production,
packaging and logistic process and to
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stay at the cutting edge of innovation in
these fields.
TAmiRNA develops RNA-based
diagnostic and therapeutic agents
for bone diseases.
TAmiRNA is a contraction of Triple-A
microRNA. The Company explores novel
diagnostic and therapeutic strategies based
on short RNA molecules (microRNAs). The
main area of application are age-associated
diseases where these approaches are
primarily used to predict the risk of and
treat bone fractures caused by widespread
diseases such as osteoporosis.
Useful for prediction and
therapy
TAmiRNA uses microRNAs for its
products because they play a key role
in the regulation of disease-relevant
cellular processes and can be traced
in the human body by intracellular and
extracellular (blood, urine, sputum)
measurement. The Company has identified
a number of microRNAs that are decisive
for bone metabolism. They can be used
as biomarkers to predict the risk of bone
diseases and/or as therapeutic targets to
accelerate bone healing.
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Preventive treatment
Bone fractures as the result of a
bone metabolism disorder in case
of osteoporosis, osteopetrosis or
type 2 diabetes are associated with
increased patient immobility and
mortality and constitute a major problem
in medical economics. Every year,
more than three million severe bone
fractures occur in Europe alone,
entailing costs of € 40 billion. Currently
only a small proportion of the patients
at risk receives preventive treatment.
This is partly due to the urgent need for
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TAmiRNA GmbH
Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna
Founding year: 2013
Management: DI Dr. Matthias Hackl
www.tamirna.com
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ViraTherapeutics
www.viratherapeutics.com
ViraTherapeutics develops
innovative virus-based therapeutics
for the treatment of cancer.
improved diagnostic and therapeutic
strategies.
Besides addressing the challenge of
developing medical applications for RNA
technology, the founders of TAmiRNA also
share their expertise in numerous private
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and public research partnerships. The goal
of these collaborations is to identify new
indications permitting the use of microRNAs
as diagnostic or therapeutic agents.
If detected at an early stage, cancer can
often be cured. However, while established
tumour therapies can improve the quality
of life and life expectancy of patients with
advanced cancers, they generally fail to cure
metastatic disease. Viruses that specifically
replicate in cancer cells, so-called oncolytic
viruses, are a novel, promising alternative to
existing cancer therapies.
Highly efficient therapies
Based on its proprietary oncolytic virus
VSV-GP, ViraTherapeutics develops highly
potent anti-cancer therapeutics for solid
tumours. The virus efficiently destroys
cancer cells while leaving normal tissues
unharmed. VSV-GP is a unique platform
technology and may be used for the
virotherapy of various types of cancer.
Unlike other oncolytic viruses, VSV-GP
does not induce neutralising antibodies
to the virus as such. It therefore allows
repeated systemic application without loss
of efficacy. Hence VSV-GP therapeutics
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have the potential to cure even metastatic
cancer. ViraTherapeutics currently performs
preclinical safety and efficacy studies for
VSV-GP and aims to conduct first clinical
trials in cancer patients within the next three
years.
From project to business
The VSV-GP technology was invented
by Dorothee Holm-von Laer. In 2012, the
ViraTherapeutics project won the first prize
among 26 international contenders in the
Best of Biotech competition organised by
the Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws). In
104
2013, Dorothee Holm-von Laer founded
ViraTherapeutics as a spin-off of the Medical
University of Innsbruck to take the VSV-GP
virotherapy from the laboratory to clinical
testing.
ViraTherapeutics GmbH
c/o Medizinische Universität Innsbruck, Sektion für Virologie,
Peter-Mayr-Straße 4b, 6020 Innsbruck
Founding year: 2013
Management: Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Dorothee Holm-von Laer
www.viratherapeutics.com
Life Sciences
105
Projects supported in 2014
106
107
108
Antagonis
PreSeed
Life Sciences
74
FIANOSTICS
PreSeed
Life Sciences
81
Authentic Vision
Seedfinancing
Physical Sciences
53
Fresnex
Seedfinancing
Physical Sciences
58
bitmovin
Seedfinancing
ICT
23
Geoprospectors
PreSeed
ICT
14
Blue Danube Robotics
PreSeed
ICT
12
Miti Biosystems
Seedfinancing
Life Sciences
86
CARGOMETER
Seedfinancing
ICT
26
MKWE
Interim Management
ICT
41
CYPRUMED
PreSeed
Life Sciences
77
NeuKurs
Seedfinancing
ICT
31
ecosio
Seedfinancing
ICT
28
ORIGIMM
Seedfinancing
Life Sciences
90
endiio
Seedfinancing
Physical Sciences
56
Platomics
Seedfinancing
Life Sciences
93
109
110
roombiotic
Seedfinancing
Life Sciences
96
wInterface
Seedfinancing
Physical Sciences
65
Secure Payment Technologies
Interim Management
ICT
45
WUGGL
PreSeed
ICT
20
sofasession
Seedfinancing
ICT
34
XPowerLab
PreSeed
Physical Sciences
50
TAmiRNA
Seedfinancing
Life Sciences
99
zoomsquare
Seedfinancing
ICT
37
Ticket Gretchen
PreSeed
ICT
17
USound
Seedfinancing
Physical Sciences
61
Vienna Translational Skin R&D Initiative
PreSeed
Life Sciences
84
ViraTherapeutics
Seedfinancing
Life Sciences
103
111
Publisher
Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH
Walcherstraße 11A
1020 Vienna
Editor
Mag. Maria Steindl-Köck
Copy editing (company portraits) and proofreading
Mag. Birgit Trinker
Translation
Mag. Gertrude Maurer
Mag. Sylvia Trnka
Graphic design
Dunja Pinta (freigeist.at)
Photos and other visuals were provided by the companies portrayed.
Although this booklet was compiled with due care and attention, errors and omissions cannot be entirely excluded.
The publisher shall not be liable for the correctness and completeness of the information contained in this publication.
Boosting Key Technologies
On behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Austria
Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft mbH (aws) provides funding and consultancy for high-tech
startups in Austria. A special focus is on supporting technological areas with high growth
potential and innovative strength such as Life Sciences, Information and Communication
Technology, and Physical Sciences.
Additional information on aws High Technology:
Phone +43 1 501 75 – 100
E-mail hochtechnologie@awsg.at
Projects supported in
2014
www.awsg.at/hochtechnologie