Under the Startup Challenge, the young entrepreneurs spent June 25/26 working on current digitalization projects in collaboration with system experts from Siemens PLM Software and users from Volkswagen. The startups from Germany, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Israel and the USA had 24 hours to come up with solutions for their specific application and to prepare a presentation. They pitched their projects to a jury of experts from Volkswagen and Siemens on Tuesday.
"Digitalization is an essential element of production in our factories of the future. That is why we are bringing young, creative enterprises and experts from Volkswagen and Siemens together for the Startup Challenge. Our aim is the joint development of innovative solutions for digitalization in production. The combination of the innovation capabilities of startups and the technological expertise of PLM Software is particularly promising. This will be a key source of support for integrating solutions from small companies into a global group like Volkswagen AG", Frank Jelich, Head of the Group Digital Factory Working Group, said.
Zvi Feuer, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering Software at Siemens PLM Software, added: "We are delighted to be organizing the Startup Challenge together with such a high-profile partner as the Volkswagen Group. The startups gain an insight into the challenges facing production at Volkswagen through the joint project work – and at the same time, they experience the benefits of PLM solutions for the digital factory. That creates a win-win situation all round."