Powered by Technoport, new Paul Wurth’s incubator InCub focuses on the industrial and construction sectors. A first call for applications was launched a few days ago and the incubator will welcome its first startups in a few weeks. We asked InCub‘s General Manager Sébastien Wiertz to tell us more about that unique initiative.
We are targeting any entrepreneurs who need to develop a project in the industrial and construction sectors, from their ideas through the Proof of concept to their first market deal.
How does InCub fit in Paul Wurth’s innovation strategy?
We had a strong Innovation culture inside Paul Wurth for decades that we want to share with young innovative entrepreneurs.
Paul Wurth is therefore eager to develop a technological ecosystem and framework for innovation in the industrial and construction sectors.
With our knowledge, we are able to shorten the time to market for young entrepreneurs in international industrial and construction sectors by offering technological and business mentoring. This initiative will also foster our Open Innovation programs among other Paul Wurth internal initiatives like Industry 4.0 and design thinking methodologies. It will not replace current Paul Wurth R&D programs but it will complement them and offer us opportunities to go outside our “comfort zone”.
We also firmly believe that this initiative will be beneficial to our customers, suppliers and partners since together with those entrepreneurs we will be able to further extend our portfolio of products and services.
What are your expectations for this incubator and this program?
Today, when we speak about start-ups, people often think of Fintech or ICT start-ups.
On our side, we believe that there are young potential entrepreneurs in the industrial and construction sectors that deserve some help by renowned companies like Paul Wurth. Our well-grounded expertise in these sectors will make InCub a good sparring partner for young entrepreneurs in terms of technology proofing and industrialisation of their projects and ideas.
This partnership with future and existing start-ups will enable us to complement our current portfolio of products and services to the benefit of all involved parties.
Paul Wurth InCub will help start-up companies to refine their products and business strategy to quickly reach a market thanks to our international network of customers, suppliers and partners.
Which sectors are you targeting?
For our first call we have selected the following topics: Industry 4.0; Advanced logistics & sustainable mobility; Environmental processes in the Metal Industry; Energy related Technologies and Business Models; Smart and Healthy buildings.
We are targeting any entrepreneurs who need to develop a project in the industrial and construction sectors, from their ideas through the Proof of concept to their first market deal.
How will you concretely support those innovative companies?
Turning good ideas into good products is what Paul Wurth has been doing since decades. Based on this experience, we will provide targeted business and technological mentoring to develop start-up’s idea from a proof of concept to their first potential deal.
As you do not sell to industrials like you sell to consumers PW InCub will help start-up companies to refine their products and business strategy to quickly reach a market thanks to our international network of customers, suppliers and partners. Matching customers’ problems with innovative solution will be beneficial for both Paul Wurth’s customers and the entrepreneurs.
A coworking space will be available since we strongly believe that a physical location facilitates the flow of technology, knowledge and talent which is the basis for efficient coaching activities. This will take place in a dynamic environment located in the hearth of Luxembourg-city (Hollerich) with an easy access to the city railway station and main motorway connections. If needed, additional spaces are available for Fablab and exhibition activities.
Our networking hours will bring PW InCub members opportunities to find legal or IP protection advice, discover investments proposals and develop connection to market. In this context, Paul Wurth InCub is partnering on the program with the Luxembourg law firm Elvinger Hoss Prussen, the accountant and consulting firm Muller & Associés and the patent and trademark attorneys Office Freylinger.
Our goal is to expand our Luxembourg industrial ecosystem by bringing more innovative companies onto an international level.
InCub is labeled “Powered by Technoport”. What are the strengths of this partnership?
For several years, Technoport has been a major player in Luxembourg for the development of our start-up ecosystem. They have a strong expertise in business incubation that promotes and supports the creation and development of innovative and technology oriented companies in Luxembourg.
They have built a profound knowledge to support the development of start-ups in concept proofing and market access. We see our added value in this partnership in the acceleration of the time to market of these POC (Proof of concept) by bringing in our business and technological support. This partnership will offer a new task force to the Luxembourgish industrial ecosystem.
In the last weeks, I have seen in practice that this collaboration offers on both sides a complementary view that will definitely help us to achieve a common goal: expand our Luxembourg industrial ecosystem by bringing more innovative companies onto an international level.
