Helmholtz Enterprise

Have you always asked yourself how your research could directly solve economical, social or environmental problems? The Field Study Fellowship enables you to 'hands-on' test customer and user needs for your own research project. You will not only acquire user-inspired 'aha' moments, but also important skills that will help you to advance in your career. Gain a new perspective on your research, develop new questions by integrating the user and customer perspective. The Field Study Fellowship provides you with the best prerequisites for entering the market and putting your research into application.

The Field Study Fellowship supports you with

• Identifying and acquiring many potential customers for an interview to test customer needs for your research
• Thinking in terms of customer benefit and conducting good customer interviews
• Getting to know scientists with similar goals and learning from each other

Process of the program

• Kick-off informationwith tools for customer interviews
• Continuous support by a field study expert
• Presentation of results and experiences as “explainer video”and written self-refelction
• Final report (max. 2 pages)

Prerequisites

• Funding from one to a maximum of two persons. Only one person can be funded full-time
• Time input from 50% part-time to full-time for three months
• Direct supervisor and technology transfer at the Center support the application
• Budget of up to 23,000 € for personnel and material costs, exclusively for customer interviews
• Additional 5,500 € are reserved centrally for field study experts
• Financial support of Center is not required

Application

• Short essay and CV
• Funding decision: Mid May or mid November
• Project starts flexibly

Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Or would you rather stay at the Center and put your idea in the hands of a suitable founder team? The paths to a spin-off are just as individual as the people behind the ideas. Turning an idea into a company requires a lot of energy and commitment. And above all, a great team. The Spin-off Program supports the employees at Helmholtz Centres on their manifold ways to found a well-thought-out business.

The Spin-off Program supports you with

• Max. 230,000 EUR spin-off funding for personnel and material costs. In addition, at least 25% matching (co-financing) by the research center.
• Advice by external expert panel consisting of spin-off experts such as investors and technology transfer managers
• Kick-off call pre project start to develop a plan to master your individual challenges
• Close 1:1-support by external spin-off experts for individual challenges (team, business model, etc.)
• Participation in external support programs, such as accelerators and investors conferences
• Expert review in month eight with decision about further funding

Process of the program, two phases

Months 1-8:

• Kick-off call before the project begins
• Close 1:1-support by external spin-off experts for individual challenges (team, business model, etc.)
• Participation in external support programs, such as accelerators and investor events
• Expert review in month seven with decision about further funding
• Complete founding team as prerequisite for further funding after month eight

Months 9-14: (success-oriented)

• Working in a complete founding team with CEO competence preparing the foundation of the spin-off
• Fundiung for externally recruited team members available
• Portrayal of the spin-off on our website

Prerequisites

• Alone or in a team, at least 100% personnel capacity in the first phase
• Direct supervisor and technology transfer at the Center support the application
•  „Job to get done“ of potential customers is understood
• In-person presentation in front of expert panel one month after application deadline
• 1:1 support: 10,000 € are reserved in the application for a coach/spin-off expert who is centrally organized by the program
• The Center funds 25% of the total project costs

Application

• In-depth description of the business idea
• Funding decision: Mid May or mid November
• Project starts flexibly

Selection of our partners

Accelerators:

Creative Destruction Lab

Life Science Factory

5-HT Digital Hub Chemistry & Health

Ahead by Fraunhofer

upCat by KIT

Merck Accelerator

EiT Health Accelerator

STEP USA Startup & Entrepreneur Program

The deadlines for submitting applications are March 31, 2023 and September 29, 2023.

Applications should be submitted via the transfer offices at the Helmholtz Association’s Research Centers. Interested founders should first get in touch with the respective contact person in the transfer units (Overview).

The "IFOX®" fabrication technology developed at DLR paves the way for the broad industrial application of fiber-reinforced (oxide) ceramics: The IFOX® process (Infusion Fabricated Oxide-CMC) enables a reproducible, automatable and scalable manufacturing technology for fiber-reinforced (oxide) ceramics (ox-CMC) for the first time and thus creates the conditions for a broad and efficient use in a number of different fields of application. In particular, the overarching focus is put on the key technology of high-temperature lightweight construction. With the development and provision of high-quality ox-CMC materials in the form of semi-finished products and components, an important building block is provided for the realization of emission-free aviation, the energetic transformation of industrial high-temperature processes and the energy transition.

Leopard Biosciences aims to develop a new CRISPR-based technology (LEOPARD) as the leading technology for multiplex Point-of-Care molecular diagnostics. The first product based on the LEOPARD technology will be a nucleic-acid based multiplex lateral flow assay (LFA) for respiratory virus detection at the Point-of-Care. The test portfolio will since be expanded with additional LFA tests and tests for other platforms like digital PCR.

DynamAI will develop an online platform that i) uses artificial intelligence (AI) to model drug efficacy and ii) optimizes dosage for drug developers. The platform will offer automated and efficient solutions for drug development. The team will provide services to pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations.

REVYVE develop climate-neutral hydrogen engines (in short: H2ICE, which burns hydrogen) for maritime applications. In addition, they offer engineering services in the field of H2 powertrains. The team offers a more reliable and cost-effective zero-emission powertrain (in comparison to current alternatives) for operators of maritime applications, integrating new climate-friendly propulsion systems to help them avoid bans and penalty costs in the future.

Fluorizon's service makes conventional drugs accessible to positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and provides data for drug candidate selection. Fluorizon's unique selling point is rapid radiolabeling (F-PG radiolabeling method) and testing of a client's drug candidates using high-precision PET medical imaging technology to determine early drug candidate performance.

Sensimply integrates novel design and sensor technology into a Left Atrial Appendage Occluder, a device designed to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, to provide products for safer, easier and more effective implantation and post-procedural patient monitoring.

A new machine-learning-based method of data analysis for fourier transform spectroscopy in the infrared and far-infrared spectral regions (FTIR). It has the potential to make data analysis more intuitive and automatic, increase the speed of data processing and open new possibilities for disease diagnostics. In their Field Study, the team will find out (among else) what “pains” customers experience with existing software and what they require of an FTIR analyzing software.

Sensor arrays that offer an innovative way to measure oxygen levels in the immediate vicinity of spheroids (3D cell cultures). This can be applied in in vitro drug testing, enabling a testing environment that can approximate tissue-specific oxygen levels, creating a more accurate testing environment. In this way, in vitro testing become more competitive and can help to reduce animal testing in pre-clinical trials and decrease the later risk of the tested drugs for humans. In their Field Study, they will explore customer needs as well as paths towards a strong position among their competitors.

A ceramic induction heater for the generation of industrial high-temperature heat (upwards of 700 °C). This heat – that, among else, is needed for the production of ceramics, bricks and tiles – has previously been generated with the help of natural gas. Facing political and economic changes and the looming climate crisis, this technology has the potential to replace natural gas and to save up to 1.6 Mio. tons of CO₂ annually (in Germany alone). In their Field Study, they will interview potential customers and research their competition.

A fast and expert-independent support for decision-making in production. As AI-based algorithm, MANON matches building components with manufacturing processes as well as available machines. In their Field Study, they will interview potential customers, especially SME using additive manufacturing (3D printing), in order to gain a detailed understanding of their needs.

Within the framework of the Field Study, a newly developed method and related software package for the compliant control of robots is to be tested for its market potential and relevance. Through interviews with potential customers and cooperation partners, information on customer needs will be collected. Based on this information, the developed software is to be refined and adapted in such a way that it corresponds as well as possible to the real market requirements.

The goal of DAVIS is to harness the potential of microbial genomics for effective management of disease outbreaks and prevention of patient-to-patient transmission. In addition, the team aims to thoroughly understand bacterial pathogenicity and strategies to overcome killing by antibiotics. Their extensive genome collection provides the basis for applying systems biology approaches to identify previously unknown markers of clinical relevance. In this context, the availability of comprehensive marker lists promises rapid and accurate prediction of relevant phenotypes such as antibiotic resistance and pathogenic potential.

Newly developed products/technologies inevitably have to be tested or qualified to prove their performance. For these tests, companies and especially research institutions often require special facilities. The development of these facilities is a complex and cost-intensive undertaking and often requires specially developed software - especially in the quantum technology sector.

The QuanTUm team would like to use their Field Study to better understand the market and customer needs for the software platform they developed. It has the potential to greatly reduce the development time of test systems for quantum technologies.

The goal of UCSAT is to improve the tense space debris situation by passive-optical staring. For this purpose, they are developing a sensor that autonomously detects, identifies and catalogs satellites and space debris objects from a size of 40cm in low Earth orbits. Due to its compact and weatherproof design, it can be placed almost anywhere.

If the capacitive touchscreen of a smartphone is damaged, the original display can often no longer be used. If no repair service is available at short notice, travelers in particular lose the functionality of their phone and easily get into trouble. Touch-on aims to provide a temporary interactive interface when the capacitive display is damaged. To protect the user (hands & face) at the same time, it is glued / applied to the destroyed and damaged display. It provides the functionality to make phone calls and can include a display, for example, to show the number or provide other feedback to the user. Magnetic switches are the best option to avoid interference from the original capacitive display, which may still respond to touch. The new display is based on HIL FlexiSens sensors (switches and sliders) and has the same functionality as a capacitive display.

There are well-documented differences between men and women at the cellular level, in metabolism, and in drug response. Nevertheless, gender differences are still largely ignored in the preclinical phase of drug development. Failure to include cells and animals of both sexes in preclinical studies leads to a male bias in the translation of results, clinical concepts, and drug development. As part of the Field of Study, the team aims to gather information from research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, clinicians, and non-profit organizations in the field of women's medicine to identify the need for gender-specific comparisons and assays in cell culture aimed at either disease modeling, drug development, or drug safety.

The team developed a new approach for radio clock synchronization that opens up the potantial to significantly increase security and reliability on mobile networks. This potential is important especially in the context of ever-increasing use of cellular networks for data transmission by industrial IoT (Internet of Things) solutions. The Field Study will be used to conduct market research in the field of time synchronization in 5G and 6G networks, especially with reference to the newly developed technology (Gradient Clock Synchronization).

Ethical and economic concerns with animal testing are increasingly coming into focus. More specifically, the experiments are unsuitable for testing the effects of thousands of chemicals that must undergo regulatory review before they can be introduced to the market. In addition, animal testing is associated with high costs for chemical companies due to the time, bureaucracy, and salaries for highly skilled employees. However, it is still unclear whether these companies are willing to switch from animal testing to more animal-friendly alternative approaches for product testing.

The Field Study aims to investigate the market demand for novel alternative methods (NAMs) to efficiently test new chemical products. It also seeks to determine whether chemical companies are willing to switch from mammalian testing to friendlier and fairer alternative testing methods to save time and money. Finally, the research will lay the groundwork for a spin-off activity that will offer high-throughput animal-friendly NAMs to companies.

In order to promote the acceptance and implementation of the use of data science, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Schleswig-Holstein, a data science consultancy is to be established that specializes in finding a sustainable way to integrate data science into these very companies. Sustainable here means that the knowledge and skills to apply data science in the company are transferred into the company. This should go beyond a feasibility study or a flagship project.
In this project, interviews with SMEs will be conducted to find out exactly which use cases can be considered for this and how this transfer of knowledge and skills can be sensibly designed.
In addition, this project will develop a business model for such data science consulting with a focus on SMEs in the entire DACH region and, for example, develop attractive consulting packages.

CirQubit is a software platform for simulating superconducting qubit circuits. It accelerates designing and making circuits for hardware companies and research labs. The circuit fabrication process requires a set of trials and discarding faulty samples, which is time and resource intensive. CirQubit can determine desired circuit parameters, which reduces clients Research and Development costs.

In order to sustainably reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, transport vehicles in aviation and heavy goods transport must be electrified and powered by renewable energies. That's why Alteva is helping manufacturers of drones, planes and trucks electrify their vehicles with the help of innovative batteries. With the novel batteries, aircraft and trucks can thereby achieve the same payloads and ranges as fossil fuel-powered vehicles and compete with them without restrictions.

The team behind heatbrAIn provides data so that the local Wärmewende succeeds: they offer municipalities and planning offices to compile data on local heat demand, generation and savings potential and to derive recommendations for measures as part of a strategy for the Wärmewende. The process is highly automated, so that a high degree of scalability is achieved.

IKOSA works on an innovative production process for fibre-reinforced ceramics that is fit for mass production. This high-performance material is particularly heat-resistant and much less brittle than regular ceramics. Up to now, it has been used primarily in the aerospace industry, but it offers great potential for other fields of application as well.

With the prospect of being able to produce the material in large quantities in the future, the team will start by investigating the market potential for materials made of fibre-reinforced ceramics (OFC) and the requirements of industrial companies for them in their field study.

The MaxPlace team is working on software that helps authorities and companies to position wind turbines in such a way that their energy yield is maximised. In doing so, the software also makes it easier for planners to take into account asset-specific, economic, safety and legal parameters when determining the best location.

In a social context, the optimal placement of wind turbines contributes to reducing conflicts of use or competition for land (nature conservation, recreation, etc.) and creates a basis for comprehensive policy advice to achieve the sustainability strategy of the federal government and the states with regard to the energy transition. In contrast to existing software solutions from other wind energy potential studies, MaxPlace is characterised by a very high level of efficiency, a wide range of applications and simple handling.

During their field study, the team wants to evaluate the market potential of its software and find out how a sustainable business model can be designed in the future.

The STSC team is developing a "digital toolbox" to help urban and transportation planners meet the challenges of the Mobilitätswende. This "toolbox" contains a selection of programmes and smaller, so-called Strategic Models - computer-supported data-based simulation models that primarily depict mobility behaviour, the determinants of behaviour and its effects. They are quickly adaptable and deliver well-founded and concise results. In this way, the team wants to create a data-based decision-making aid for the selection and prioritisation of measures and investments, which can also be used to justify political decisions to the administration, the public as well as parliaments.

In the field study, the team wants to elicit possible customers and their needs as well as already existing solutions and assess possibilities for the scalability of their business model.

twAI (trustworthy artificial intelligence) aims to provide a SaaS (software as a service) platform for the evaluation of data sets and AI models. With the help of this web platform, customers can securely upload their used training data or their AI model to the cloud. There, they can use various methods to evaluate the data/AI models: For example, data can be tested for fairness or possible bias. Furthermore, AI models can be trained in the cloud with the uploaded data. Feedback for the optimal choice of the AI model used is given according to the uploaded data and its properties. Subsequently, the platform also allows the evaluation and monitoring of the trained models and the verification of certain properties of the finished model.

In the field study, the potential market for the planned spin-off will be investigated in more detail. An initial focus for customer interviews will be automotive companies.

In the past, little attention was paid to myxobacteria in the pharmaceutical industry because they are difficult to culture. However, the group of researchers behind MYXOBIOTICS Platform have developed methods to facilitate cultivation and now have the largest and most diverse myxobacterial strain library in the world. The team is currently working on a comprehensive database that will pool information on all their bacterial strains and thus offer new possibilities for drug discovery (drug discovery platform).

In the field study, the team wants to conduct a market analysis, in which they want to find out how much interest pharmaceutical companies and small biotechnology companies have in their drug discovery platform. Furthermore, they want to put themselves in a position to assess the scalability of their platform on the world market as well as viable pricing models.

The GaLEx team has developed a new method that enables companies to retrieve significant amounts of rare raw materials (gallium, indidum and germanium) from industrial wastewater. These materials are needed particularly in the high-tech sector and in the production of photovoltaic systems and LCD displays, while at the same time being a scarce resource in Germany and throughout the EU.

In the field study, the team plans to focus on customer acquisition and partnership building to expand their existing customer and partner base.

PIA ("Prospective Monitoring and Management App") is a free, open-source eResearch system that has been developed by the Department of Epidemiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research since 2017. As a generic system, it offers the possibility to conduct cohort studies or surveys including biosample management digitally. The current studies focus on infection-related topics, but in principle PIA can also be used for studies and surveys beyond health research.

In their field study, the team wants to explore the needs of their customers and in particular the requirements and needs of multipliers in the areas of research and open source software as well as professional and non-professional users.

Pollination is a critical factor for many ecosystems as well as for the food supply of humankind. In the face of the crisis in global food production and projected population growth, it is increasingly important to maintain productive and diverse crops. This is hardly conceivable without pollination services. The team behind PAI aims to develop AI pipelines to detect and classify pollinators in images captured by cameras in flowers. The tools developed will enable automated pollinator monitoring.

In the field study, the team wants to find out for which target groups their technology is best suited and how a viable payment system for them should look like.

The field study in the context of the PhD award will be used to compile the technical and logistical modalities of existing FELs (free electron lasers) worldwide and to investigate their suitability for the implementation of a plasma-based energy booster. In addition, the utility of such an energy booster for typical users will be evaluated and the sites will be screened for new potential users in industry.

AI4Cryosphere deals with the AI-based automation of the extraction of Antarctic glacier fronts using satellite data. The extracted data will be made available to the public as well as to researchers for, among other things, the prediction of sea level rise.

The field study in the context of the PhD award will be used to identify further fields of application for the existing monitoring services and the AI approach and to find out which other research areas can benefit from the approach.

InSpacePropulsion Technologies (ISPTech) offers 3D-printed rocket engines to power spacecraft. The thrusters are cost-effective and can be manufactured within a short time. In addition, the thrusters use "green" rocket propellants that are non-toxic and easy to handle.

The marbled crayfish is a particularly robust crayfish that can be produced sustainably and efficiently in closed aquaculture facilities. Via biorefineries, large quantities of tasty and healthy crayfish meat, as well as chitin for the production of bioplastics, are to be obtained from marbled crayfish.

Find out more

A new biological process is used to process liquid farm manure such as slurry or fermentation products from biogas plants into a higher-quality fertilizer. By purchasing a liquid manure treatment plant, farmers can produce a liquid fertilizer directly available to plants from their own resources and reduce the use of expensive industrial fertilizers.

https://nunos.bio/

As a contract research organization, MiBioLab offers bioprocess development services to industry using a proprietary automated microbioreactor platform to accelerate the time-consuming and costly development of sustainable biotechnological manufacturing processes.

https://mibiolab.de/

MEMORTHOTIC develops individually fitted compression garments. Compared to already available products, these are significantly more efficient due to their precise fit. In the field study, the team wants to find out for which fields of application the new technology is suitable in the existing market.

The Materialize Chemistry team is working on a software tool that uses machine learning to facilitate the synthesis of materials, particularly the metal-organic framework class of materials. Results to date show that the software produces more efficient and reliable predictions of synthesis conditions than conventional methods, even at an early stage.

The AURo-lab team offers AUVs (autonomous underwarter vehicles) that are compatible with each other in terms of both hardware and software. Up to now, there have been various suppliers on the market, but their systems are incompatible with each other. AURo-lab offers an attractive all-in-one package for research and companies including software, hardware and service. In their field study, the team wants to get to know and understand its customers and their needs better.

CALiS develops new types of batteries that are both lighter and more energy dense than conventional batteries. At the same time, heavy metals can be completely dispensed in production. On the one hand, this reduces production costs and, on the other hand, it makes the recycling of the batteries easier and more environmentally friendly.

The Citrapeutics team researches the medical application of citraconic acid. Particularly in the treatment of inflammatory and infectious diseases as well as neoplastic diseases (e.g. influenza, COVID-19 or rheumatoid arthritis), there is great potential for application. Citraconic acid is both cheaper and easier to use than conventional treatments. In its field study, the team intends to refine its concept both clinically and pharmaceutically and to explore the market potential of citraconic acid.

The team at MagFeel is developing a platform for touchless gesture control based on magnetic fields. Already established technologies are often heavier, more expensive and less accurate. In the field study, the team wants to explore the market potential of its technology.

SCiNRGY develops a web-based and globally applicable tool for long-term analysis of energy systems. It will be easy to use and it is going to help companies and investors to make sustainable long-term decisions for the energy supply of the future.

Novel electronic components, memristors, have been developed at HZDR, whose potential is unfolding in particular in artificial intelligence applications. This includes a dramatic reduction in the amount of data to be processed, the computing time and the energy required to date. The AppIFab spin-off project will develop, sell and license solutions and applications, thus making the advantages of these components available to a broad range of customers worldwide.

Orshina is developing an innovative and dynamic platform for screening of drug candidates including biologics and cutting-edge cell and gene therapies. Our proprietary technology allows, for the first time, identification of drugs to block early stage fibrosis, opening up a new therapeutic avenue that caters to the needs of drug developers working in the prevention and treatment of fibrotic disorders.

The Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis Systems (SORMAS) is an open source digital system already successfully in use in six countries for detection, prevention and control of a variety of infectious diseases. The new non-for-profit organization SORMAS Ecosystems shall offer open source curation, quality standards, promotion SORMAS, in order to secure best possible international expansion and sustainability. For this aim SORMAS will also built up a market place for governmental and non-governmental health organizations, professional service providers and other stakeholders working with or wishing to work with SORMAS. By doing so, the non-for profit SORMAS Ecosystems organization will also nurture the business case for the complementary spin-off of the for-profit SORMAS Services company.

To SORMAS website

The team from Bioinformatic Services & Technologies wants to enter the emerging market of big-data genomics, which includes all information encoded by DNA. The current bottleneck in working with DNA data is not the generation of the data, but the comprehensive analysis. To thoroughly process, evaluate, and analyze such data, the spin-off will provide a highly customized and full extent bioinformatic service with a special expertise on (but not restricted to) complex environmental samples.

The aim of CARing for Cure is to develop novel cancer immunotherapies for the treatment of various haematological malignancies, which are based on so called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-dependent adoptive T cells.

To reduce the risk to landing aircraft from wake vortices and increase runway capacity, DLR's Institute of Atmospheric Physics has spent the last decade developing what are known as Plate Lines - a device that accelerates the decay of aircraft wake vortices near the ground. As part of the Field Study Fellowship, the team wants to find out which airports in Europe and worldwide have an interest in installing Plate Lines. Furthermore, the business model of Plate Lines will be sharpened.

ARPES (angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy) is an informative tool of condensed matter physics to investigate the electronic structure of solids. The Team form HZB enhanced the widespread technology in order develop new materials in fields of superconductivity, semiconductors, spintronics and solar energy usage.

Production of plastic films with special coatings for space applications, such as insulating films (Multi Layer Insulation MLI), films for drag sails (Drag Sails), flexible solar panels or even sun shields (Sun Shields).

Development of innovative models for more reliable risk assessment of flood events.

Developing precise real-time data based soil moisture Modells, that allow predictions for plant growth and thereby establishing a transparent, innovative insurance platform that serves people and helps sustain food security.

Development of consulting, software and operational services in the field of magnetometer data-analysis and validation.

Developement of an optimization method for scheduling drug delivery and improving decision making in different stages of drug development.

The team at ExoMatter aims to bridge the gap between academic and industrial materials development and provide B2B services in the field of computational materials engineering.

To the ExoMatter website

fluxtec offers innovative solutions to reliably explore geo resources and ensure their sustainable use. A wide range of gas analytical technologies is available for this purpose. These are suitable for the exploration of geothermal resources, the monitoring of gas reservoirs up to modern early warning systems for geohazards in volcanically and seismically active regions.

To the fluxtec website

ViroCas13 is developing a novel antiviral therapy based on proprietary gene scissors that can be used against medically relevant RNA viruses and their mutants.

To monitor deformations in the subsurface and on infrastructures, the FOMON team offers the service and distribution of an innovative measurement system that records the finest deformation differences using standard telecommunication optical fibers as sensors. Customers will gain through the service a custom-fit, adaptive and easy-to-use solution for the assessment and monitoring of their object or an area.

To the FOMON website

Software tool for easier and safer automotive modeling.

Refinement of problematic agricultural substances into a plant-available fertilizer solution.

To the C.R.O.P. website

Method for the determination of ionizing radiation by scintillation measurement (environmental monitoring and life sciences).

Preparation of block copolymeric membrane materials for water purification and medical sector.

Innovative design of large space structure systems such as in photovoltaic solar panels, braking sails, antennas, solar shades, instrument masts.

Simulation method for solar thermal power plants based on line focusing systems.

Digital twin as a key element in the transformation towards Industry 4.0 (IoT).

Industrial application of megaelectronvolt ion beam analysis (materials development, semiconductor technology).

Next generation sequencing in combination with bioinformatic tools.

Fully automated water sampling technology for weather monitoring and forecasting.