AeroLifi from Weßling and Demodesk from Unterschleißheim won top prizes in the Digital Innovations startup competition. AeroLifi is working on a way to transmit data using light. Demodesk is developing screen sharing for cloud applications.
The two startups from the Munich area were honored as winners of the Digital Innovations Startup Competition at the Hannover Messe. The other main prizes went to Picum MT, MotionMiners, LiveEO, and Walkerschair. The awards from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy carry a prize of €32,000. The startups also receive coaching and mentoring. The special "Industry 4.0" prize, endowed with €10,000, goes to drag&bot from Stuttgart.
AeroLifi: Light instead of radio
The innovative method developed by AeroLifi, based in the 5,000-resident community of Weßling in the Starnberg district, is said to offer higher bandwidths than conventional technologies such as Wi-Fi, mobile communications, or Bluetooth. It also offers greater interference and data security. A direct line of sight between the LED and the receiver is not necessary. AeroLifi Managing Director Dr. Markus Werner says:
"The hunger for data is growing, and we're now reaching the limits of radio frequencies when it comes to wireless transmission. Communication via light promises more data volume and greater security. In enclosed spaces, light-based data transmission is secure against eavesdropping."
Simple and fast screen sharing
Demodesk, based in the Munich suburb of Unterschleissheim, offers web-based screen sharing for interactive product demonstrations, training, and customer service. Sharing partners can work simultaneously in the attached cloud application. No software needs to be installed on their devices to use it, allowing firewalls to remain in operation, and the transfer rate is said to be higher than with previous offerings. Only the contents of a browser tab are shared, not the entire screen, which may contain confidential content. Veronika Riederle, co-founder and CEO of Demodesk, says:
“Our application is significantly simpler, faster, and more secure than conventional screen-sharing offerings.”
In the next step, the company wants to implement artificial intelligence that supports salespeople in real time.
The next round of the start-up competition — Digital Innovations starts on July 2, 2018.
