10 Belgian Industry 4.0 startups & scaleups competed for a spot in the prestigious Slush Helsinki

26 September 2019 – During last night’s PwC Innovation Night Powered by Slush, 10 Belgian start- and scale-ups competed to participate in Slush, the technology conference that takes place on the 21st and 22nd of November in Helsinki. This year, it was all about the topic of Industry 4.0. T-Mining, a start-up that provides blockchain solutions for logistics and maritime supply chains, ended up taking home the main prize.

This year’s Innovation Night: all things Industry 4.0

During the Innovation Night, the preselected participants had the unique opportunity to pitch their business to a panel of experts. This year’s edition targeted early or growth stage startups and scale-ups solving Industry 4.0 challenges, including in the field of robotics, 3D printing and the Internet of Things.

The round of pitches was followed by a networking dinner that was all about connecting innovative young companies with industry leading corporations. This provided the start-up founders with direct connections in order to further accelerate the growth of their business.

“Building a company requires a strong team of the right people with complementary skill sets,” said Griet Helsen, Partner at PwC Belgium. “It’s especially important within Industry 4.0, as founders need to bridge knowledge of technological innovation with business. By unlocking valuable business connections with this initiative, companies are able to achieve first-mover advantage and increased competitiveness in the market.”

The largest start-up event in the world

Each of the participating start- and scale-ups had three minutes to present their business. This was followed by a Q&A session with a jury consisting of Dirk Torfs, General Director Flanders Make, Philippe Huberts, Direct Digital and Automation Technology for Integrated Supply Chain / Manufacturing bij AkzoNobel, Jonathan Berté, CEO of Robovision, Markus Nyberg, Head of Startup Operations at Slush and Jochen Vincke, Industry 4.0 Partner at PwC Belgium.

T-Mining ended up taking home the main prize. T-Mining uses blockchain solutions to help parties in logistics and maritime supply chains yield increased operational and administrative efficiencies, improve overall security and safety and address complex trust and governance concerns.

T-Mining won a full travel arrangement (flight, hotel and entry ticket) to Slush Helsinki on November 21 and 22, an annual happening that has built a reputation as the world’s premier event for start-ups.

“Having already proven our technology in Antwerp, we began expanding internationally at the beginning of the year, so it’s a great time to be in an international setting. PwC can reach the really large shipping companies and other interesting firms where we, as a start-up, wouldn’t knock on the door.  We’ve already taken on a local investor and now need a gateway to the second step, PwC’s international network and close relationships can help deliver that step.” enthused Frederik Van Outryve, CCO of T-Mining.

The participating startups

The 10 innovative Industry 4.0 startups selected to take part in the Innovation Night powered by Slush are:

1. T-Mining is active in blockchain logistics and develops a smart contract framework for the maritime and logistics sector.
2. Esoptra develops and markets a scalable DataOps platform for innovative, reusable business applications that leverage available data in faster, cheaper and simpler ways.
3. Zensor provides safe and cost-effective monitoring of assets, providing real-time business intelligence through sensor-driven data collection and analysis. Applications include industrial production, wind energy and civil infrastructure.
4. Inimco provides innovative, industrial IoT-based solutions for global machine and equipment builders that want to connect industrial assets with customers and services to support their business model shift and manufacturing companies that want to gain real-time visibility into their global production processes and maximise operational efficiency.
5. Crodeon Technologies is a Belgian manufacturer of intelligent end-to-end monitoring systems for industry, agriculture and research.
6. Tractonomy Robotics is a design agency  building advanced mobile manipulation systems that fuse motion control, machine intelligence, and interaction. The company combines strategic design and machine intelligence to solve business problems using cost- and task-effective mobile manipulation system. Applications include space, search and rescue, surgery and defence.
7. IOT Factory is an accelerator for startups in the IOT, organized around a selection committee, coaches, innovative technological tools, and financing. This exclusive program is supported by the Next Tech plan of the Brussels Capital Region, which aims to highlight 3 priority technologies in the Brussels region, including the Internet of Things.
8. Arkite has developed the Human Interface Mate (HIM) that provides real-time picking and assembly instructions through Augmented Reality and warns in case of any error in a forward-looking manner.
9. Aloxy offers a modular IoT platform to improve safety and efficiency, to automate processes and to deliver actionable insights into industrial operations.
10. ValCUN is a tech start-up developing a new & disruptive metal 3D printing technology.