Three ideas with a DWI connection win the "AC² - Gründen und Wachsen" competition

On 11.06.24, the winners of the "AC² - Start-up, Growth, Innovation" initiative and thus the best start-up and growth ideas in the region were honored at Aachen City Hall. Two first places went to initiatives based on research work at the DWI: naion.tech with Milan Abel, Ilka Rose, Daniel Felder from Aachen Process Engineering (winner of the AC² Business Plan discipline) and FORMeat with Rahman Omidinia Anarkoli, Jana Kaus and Ekin Akdere (winner of the AC² Pitch+PitchDeck discipline). The HAIRSENSE team consisting of Till Hülsmann, Mike Vogt, Tabea Quilitz and Samik Real finished in the top 10.

naion.tech has developed a nanofiltration technology for the recovery of critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are essential for green and high-tech applications and are in high demand worldwide. The team, consisting of DWI alumni Ilka Rose and Daniel Felder, optimizes existing recycling processes together with their colleague Milan Abel: Instead of adapting entire filtration systems to different water compositions, Naion.tech improves membrane filters by calculating the ideal membrane properties and using a special coating process. This results in higher product quality and shorter project lead times. The membrane filters are then installed in modular filtration systems.

FORMeat is developing a pioneering technology for the production of meat: FORMeat's advanced fiber spinning techniques will be used to produce steaks from animal stem cells, so that in future a more environmentally and animal-friendly alternative to conventional methods of factory farming and meat production can be offered. The specially developed spinning machines will process meat cultivated in the laboratory, which will be able to replicate the texture and structure of conventional types of meat. The scalable spinning technology ensures that cultured meat meets the highest quality and taste standards. The founding team consists of Rahman Omidinia Anarkoli and Ekin Akdere (postdocs in the De Laporte research group) and their colleague Jana Kaus.

HAIRSENSE has developed a technology that can guarantee the authenticity and quality of high-quality textiles. This means that questions such as "Is my cashmere sweater really genuine?" can be clearly answered. HAIRSENSE thus offers consumers, brands and retailers the certainty that their products are authentic. This is particularly relevant for leading fashion labels and textile producers, as it makes it easier for them to comply with their legal product control obligations . HAIRSENSE's technology combines established analysis methods using microscopy technology with AI-supported evaluation. It therefore exceeds the accuracy and efficiency of traditional approaches. The technology is based on the results and developments of the IGF research project 21376 N "Artificial intelligence for the automated, forgery-resistant determination of animal hair".

We congratulate all the teams on their outstanding performance!