Lithoz is system provider for additive manufacturing of high-performance ceramics and is a spin-off of the TU Wien. Johannes Benedikt and Johannes Homa have developed the technology during their PhD time at the TU Wien and founded Lithoz in 2011. They have developed Lithoz from an university spin-off to the innovation and world market leader. Lithoz employs today 60 people in Vienna and Troy, NYS, USA. Johannes Homa will tell the story and show how it is possible to build up a company without investors.
Dr. Johannes Homa holds a PhD in materials science from the Vienna University of Technology and has worked in additive manufacturing since 2003. He is co-founder and managing director of Lithoz GmbH (www.lithoz.com), the world leader in additive manufacturing of advanced ceramics. He also co-founded the company Cubicure GmbH (www.cubicure.com), which deals with the development and marketing of machines and materials in the field of lithographic high-performance plastics. In addition, Dr. Homa is on the board of directors of an American company and is also president and founder of the initiative AM Austria (www.am-austria.com). He is the technical director of the Austrian 3D Printing Forum (https://www.3d-printing-forum.at) and co-inventor of several patents and author of numerous publications in the field of additive manufacturing.
The Founder & Investor Talks organized by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) at TU Wien enable the audience to learn first-hand from experienced founders and investors. They share their international experiences, dos and don’ts and lessons learned during inspiring talks and answer questions in interactive Q&A-sessions. The talks are concluding with the possibility for networking with like-minded people accompanied by some free drinks. With the TU Wien Alumni Edition, the i²c wants to showcase especially TU Wien alumni, who decided to take the entrepreneurial path and offer an extra stage for their success stories.
Free entry but registration is necessary!
***During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the i²c team at the venue in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c in printed and electronic media for promotional purposes.***
Starting and scaling companies is probably one of the most difficult experiences you will ever have in your life. Nicholas Trieb, a TU Wien Alumni, has first-hand experience of failure (losing a startup before even starting), successfully exiting the startup tripwolf, and helping lead TourRadar to a $50 million dollar investment and scaling the company to over 200 people in 3 different office locations (Vienna, Toronto and Brisbane). In his talk, Nicholas will discuss his journey, key lessons learned and how important it is to pivot to new directions fast to help successfully grow your company.
Nicholas Trieb was born in Vienna, Austria and grew up in Austria, Costa Rica and the United States. He holds a Masters (with distinction) in Computer Science from the Technical University of Vienna and spent the year between his Bachelors and his Masters in India working for the 4th-largest Indian IT consulting firm (Satyam Computer Services). After his studies he spent a year at the consulting firm Capgemini before co-founding tripwolf and successfully selling the company to a renowned German publishing house. Over the past 4 years Nicholas was the COO of TourRadar helping lead the company to its $50m dollar Series C investment and growing the company to 200+ people in 3 office locations (Vienna, Toronto, Brisbane). As chief operating officer, Nicholas is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations at TourRadar, with a special focus on the product & technical side of the company.
The Founder & Investor Talks organized by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) at TU Wien enable the audience to learn first-hand from experienced founders and investors. They share their international experiences, dos and don’ts and lessons learned during inspiring talks and answer questions in interactive Q&A-sessions. The talks are concluding with the possibility for networking with like-minded people accompanied by some free drinks. With the TU Wien Alumni Edition, the i²c wants to showcase especially TU Wien alumni, who decided to take the entrepreneurial path and offer an extra stage for their success stories.
Free entry but registration is necessary!
***During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the i²c team at the venue in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c in printed and electronic media for promotional purposes.***
The i2c Networking Friday is the “Innovation & Entrepreneurship Summit” of the TU Wien. It offers the unique opportunity to get in contact with an entrepreneurial interested audience consisting of scientists, students, industry representatives, investors, funding agencies and enthusiasts of the startup ecosystem and to network cross-disciplinary.
PROGRAM (bilingual event)
| 08:30 – 10:00 | Registration (including breakfast)
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| 10:00 – 10:15 |
Welcome and Introductory Remarks
Prof. DI Dr.techn. Johannes Fröhlich, Vice Rector Research & Innovation TU Wien
Dr. Birgit Hofreiter (Director Innovation Incubation Center – i²c TU Wien) |
| 10:15 – 10:25 | Statement „3 Gründe für die Förderung eines Gründer-Ökosystem an der TU Wien“
Mag. Marlis Baurecht (Geschäftsfeldleiterin Innovation, aws)
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| 10:30 – 11:00 | Talk „The Stanford Entrepreneurial Spirit and Its Role in the Silicon Valley Ecosystem“
Dr. Karin Immergluck (Executive Director Stanford Office of Technology Licensing) Stanford’s entrepreneurial spirit began as early as the 1951, when it established the Stanford Industrial Park and its first startup, Varian, moved in. That moment is generally coined as the birth of Silicon Valley. Currently, over 40,000 active companies can trace their roots to Stanford. What happened in between is the result of the snowballing interactions between the faculty and students of the University, and the Silicon Valley companies that they have started. |
| 11:00 – 12:15 |
Panel Discussion „Business models at the limit of the technically feasible – The role of universities in assessing economical and societal risks of innovation“
Like every year, the first part of this tripartite event as regards content focuses on a relevant topic in the context of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. While the assessment of the market potential of an innovation can be supported by well-known approaches to market research, the assessment of the technical feasibility is much more difficult. This applies in particular to innovations that are presented as a result of new scientific findings. The assessment of new scientific knowledge can be very difficult and thus, can lead to significant misjudgments.
 Dr. Johannes Adler Senior Investor, eQventures  Mag. Michael Hirschbrich Updatemi Inc.  Dr. Karin Immergluck Stanford University  Mag.iur. Peter Karg TU Wien  Ao.Univ.Prof. DI Dr.techn. Robert Sablatnig TU Wien |
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12:15 – 13:45 |
Innovation Roadshow & Networking Lunch (Flying Buffet) The second part of the event is dedicated to the exhibition of outstanding TU Wien innovations. TU Wien scientists and students will exhibit their patents, research results, research work, and spin-outs/startups. Thus, important contacts for the next steps in the individual endeavor can be made. Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere and food while networking. This year we cover domains like state of the art curing technologies, passive arm-exoskeletons with optional gravity support, sustainable, standing wave technology, construction technologies for bridge and structural engineering, rapid and cost-effective DNA extraction from bacteria, methods for measuring physical and chemical composition in process streams, 3D digitalization of real places, secure architectures for smart grid operations, nanoelectromechanical systems for highly sensitive infrared and terahertz radiation detection, turbulence suppressing program, EdTech, BioTech, 3D printing |
| 13:45 – 14:45 | i²c STARTacademy Pitch Challenge In the afternoon, the projects of the STARTacademy 2019, the start-up bootcamp for scientific spin-outs, recently awarded the European Enterprise Promotion Award, will be pitching their developed business models to a prestigious jury for the first time and compete for prizes totaling € 30,000. Afterward, we will celebrate together with the awarded winners in a relaxed finale. |
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14:45 – 15:00 |
Science Slam (Pause für Jury-Entscheidung) |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Pitch Challenge Award Ceremony |
| Moderation: Daniel Cronin |
Supported by
Please note the limited number of participants! Registrations will be ranked according to their arrival.
***Note: There is no fee, but registration is required. During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the TUW Innovation Incubation team at the registration in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c for printed and electronic media, including the Internet, for publication, education, lectures, radio, public performances, exhibitions or other promotional purposes.***
“Ideas don’t make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does.” is a famous quote by billionaire Felix Dennis. Most young entrepreneurs are driven by the great passion for their ideas, some love the vibrant spirit of a startup-culture and a few just want to become super-wealthy very quickly. Who of them will succeed, who of them will fail? How to balance product, sales, team, financing,…? Wolfgang Platz, founder of Tricentis, shares his experiences and findings on the way to build an Austrian unicorn.
Wolfgang Platz brings over 20 years of technology experience to Tricentis. Wolfgang founded Tricentis in 2008 as a testing consultancy and laid the cornerstone for the development of our enterprise software testing product, Tricentis Tosca. Today, he is responsible for global product management, R&D and delivery of product-related support and services to our customers. Prior to Tricentis, Wolfgang was at Capgemini as a group head of IT development for one of the world’s largest IT insurance-development projects. There, he was responsible for architecture and implementation of life insurance policies and project management for several projects in banks. Wolfgang holds a Master’s degree in Technical Physics as well as a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Technology.
The Founder & Investor Talks organized by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) at TU Wien enable the audience to learn first-hand from experienced founders and investors. They share their international experiences, dos and don’ts and lessons learned during inspiring talks and answer questions in interactive Q&A-sessions. The talks are concluding with the possibility for networking with like-minded people accompanied by some free drinks. With the TU Wien Alumni Edition, the i²c wants to showcase especially TU Wien alumni, who decided to take the entrepreneurial path and offer an extra stage for their success stories.
Free entry but registration is necessary!
***During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the i²c team at the venue in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c in printed and electronic media for promotional purposes.***
Dejan Stojanovic will talk about his journey of leaving a promising career in a corporate and law firm and creating his own entrepreneurial world. He will share the fuckups and learnings he took away from founding his first start-up crowd-o-moto. Dejan will reveal his experiences in the Silicon Valley and why he thinks we could do much better than the Americans. Furthermore, he is going to explain the reasons he founded the Fuckup Nights Vienna and give insights into the biggest failures from young entrepreneurs as well as big corporates.
Dejan is a passionate entrepreneur and supporter of the Austrian startup ecosystem. His personal conviction that failure is the mother of innovation, motivated him to start and host the Austrian version of “Fuckup Nights.” This groundbreaking series of events introduces the U.S. perspective of a healthier startup and business culture, where business failure stories are publicly shared and questioned while the learning effects are celebrated. Due to his extensive experience in entrepreneurship and error culture, Dejan has landed coverage in different print and broadcast outlets in Austria while also being invited to give speeches at venues such as TEDx Klagenfurt, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, BMW Startup Garage and Urban Future Global Conference. Dejan holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Vienna.
The Founder & Investor Talks organized by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) at TU Wien enable the audience to learn first-hand from experienced founders and investors. They share their international experiences, dos and don’ts and lessons learned during inspiring talks and answer questions in interactive Q&A-sessions. The talks are concluding with the possibility for networking with like-minded people accompanied by some free drinks. With the TU Wien Alumni Edition, the i²c wants to showcase especially TU Wien alumni, who decided to take the entrepreneurial path and offer an extra stage for their success stories.
Free entry but registration is necessary!
***During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the i²c team at the venue in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c in printed and electronic media for promotional purposes.***
Runtastic is one of the world’s number one health and fitness apps and managed to put Austria on the big-money tech acquisitions map after they were acquired by sportswear brand Adidas Group for €220 Mio. The idea for Runtastic was born in 2009 during a college project and developed into the running app for leisure athletes by the four co-founders, René Giretzlehner, Florian Gschwandtner, Christian Kaar, and Alfred Luger and since then they have been focusing on accompanying and supporting the users on their journey to a better, healthier and more conscious lifestyle. In 2013 the German media corporation Axel Springer acquired 50.1% shares at a valuation of 22 Mio. Today Runtastic encompasses over 23 nationalities and 110 employees and has a mix of software (apps) and hardware products.
As COO and co-founder of Runtastic, Alfred Luger, in addition to managing the company finances and HR topics, is also responsible for all Marketing topics and organizational development at Runtastic. Recently he joined the digital management team at adidas together with his co-founder Christian.
In his talk Alfred will touch topics like the startup & acquisition phases they underwent with Runtastic, his learnings as a founder and then manager and since he is also acting as a business angel (e.g. tractive, linemetrics, cleen energy mimo) and investor in the startup community (e.g. Startup 300, Speedinvest, capital 300) his learnings as an active business angel and investor.
The Founder & Investor Talks organized by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) at TU Wien enable the audience to learn first-hand from experienced founders and investors. They share their international experiences, dos and don’ts and lessons learned during inspiring talks and answer questions in interactive Q&A-sessions. The talks are concluding with the possibility for networking with like-minded people accompanied by some free drinks. With the TU Wien Alumni Edition, the i²c wants to showcase especially TU Wien alumni, who decided to take the entrepreneurial path and offer an extra stage for their success stories.
Free entry but registration is necessary!
***During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the i²c team at the venue in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c in printed and electronic media for promotional purposes.***
If you watch the various pitching shows on TV, you could get the feeling that an investment in a start-up is fixed after 5 minutes. Or even not. Investors don’t need any longer to make their decision. Start-ups don’t anyway. Everybody likes each other. Believes in the idea. Ask a few questions about figures and the market. Agrees on shares and price. And everything is “paletti”. Until the big exit all positive and friendly. On the contrary, our experience says so: Bullshit. Before the investment and after the investment there are various hurdles to overcome which need time & patience. Let´s talk about them.
Karin Kreutzer, MAS is the founder and CEO of AUBMES Invest GmbH, startup investor/business angelina and communication expert. Since 2015 she is active in the startup scene (investor, business angel, columnist) and has 25 years of joyful commitment to communication management (PR, advertising, coaching). Prior to that she spent many years in leading functions in large and medium-sized companies (Aral, Grundig, Generali), since 2002 she is self-employed (until 2017 owner and CEO of the pr agency konzept pr). She holds a Master of Advanced Studies (PR) and is a certified business coach and advertising consultant/intermediary. She is author of several publications. AUBMES Invest GmbH is currently invested in 8 startups and in the SpeedInvest industry fund.
MMag. Stefan Artner, MRICS, is the founder and CEO of AUBMES Invest GmbH, startup investor/business angel and attorney-at-law. Since two decades he is active as lawyer for national and international clients (partner and head of the real estate practice group at DORDA: real estate, M&A, corporate law). Since 2015 he is also active in the startup scene (investor, business angel, advisor). He holds a law degree from the University of Vienna, an economics degree from the Vienna University of Business and studied International Property Valuation at the European Business School. He is holding lectures at University of Vienna and Danube University Krems and he is author of several expert publications on real estate law and corporate law.
The Founder & Investor Talks organized by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c) at TU Wien enable the audience to learn first-hand from experienced founders and investors. They share their international experiences, dos and don’ts and lessons learned during inspiring talks and answer questions in interactive Q&A-sessions. The talks are concluding with the possibility for networking with like-minded people accompanied by some free drinks. With the TU Wien Alumni Edition, the i²c wants to showcase especially TU Wien alumni, who decided to take the entrepreneurial path and offer an extra stage for their success stories.
Free entry but registration is necessary!
***During the event, photographic and video material will be taken. Please inform the i²c team at the venue in case you do not agree with appearing in this material. The photographic and video material taken at the event will be used by i²c in printed and electronic media for promotional purposes.***
