At the fourth iHUB pitch, a research team from TU Ilmenau impressed the judges with its technology that combines the 6G mobile communications standard with sensor technology for the first time. The company Healyan, a spin-off from TU Ilmenau, was also successful in the competition. A total of five innovative projects were funded with 460,700 euros. The InSignA Innovation Hub, an initiative of the Thuringian Ministry with the participation of TU Ilmenau, supports forward-looking ideas in sensor technology, signal analysis, digitalization and assistance systems with the pitch.
The best ideas from research with market potential - at the iHUB pitch, scientists and entrepreneurs competed against each other for research funding. A total of 70 guests, jurors and the candidates of the ideas competition met at the Ilmenau Parkcafé on February 20, 2025 to compete for funding for their innovative ideas. Eleven teams presented their ideas in five minutes each to the attendees and this year's jury. In the end, the following teams prevailed against the strong competition and are now delighted to have their ideas funded:
- 6Gsens project team from TU Ilmenau
- Healyan GmbH
- Omnisent GmbH
- Prof. Fritz-Hofmann-Gymnasium Kölleda
- DELFA Systems GmbH
6Gsens project team at TU Ilmenau: Innovative radio technology for sensors in the 6G mobile communications infrastructure
The young founding team of Carsten Andrich, Felipa Carrara, Michael Schubert, Sebastian Giehl and Viktoria Mayr, research associates at the Electronic Measurement and Signal Processing EMS Research Group, presented its technology to the jury of combining the 6G mobile communications standard currently under development with sensor technology for the first time. In addition to extremely fast data transmission and very short response times, 6G standardizes powerful, integrated and therefore resource-saving sensor technology for the first time. This can be used for the safe, sustainable and comfortable mobility of the future, e.g. for detecting pedestrians in road traffic, cyclists or for predictive traffic flow control. As part of the research activities now being funded, an intuitive, block-based user interface and a demonstrator will be developed to show how powerful the 6Gsens technology is.
Minister of Economic Affairs is patron of the Ilmenau iHUB pitch
The patron of the iHUB pitch, Thuringia's Minister of Economic Affairs Colette Boos-John, thanked all participating teams in her welcoming address:
We need more people who - like you - take the plunge into self-employment and quickly turn research findings into new, marketable products.
Ultimately, she continued, Thuringia's success as a business location depends on this. The ongoing structural change in many economic sectors and areas can only be mastered with new technologies and business ideas. According to the current "Next Generation" report by the German Start-up Association, there were 27 innovative start-ups in Thuringia in 2024 - 14th place among all federal states. "Of course, start-ups are always about class rather than quantity. Nevertheless, our aim remains to gradually improve this ranking in the coming years," said Boos-John. The Minister emphasized that start-up formats such as the Thuringian Innovation Hubs - in addition to the InSignA Innovation Hub (iHUB) in Ilmenau, there is also the Digital Innovation Hub Photonics (DIHP) in Jena - are an important contribution to achieving this goal. The state is therefore supporting these two initiatives with 4.2 million euros until the end of 2026.
Number of applications for the iHUB pitch increased significantly this year
The first successes of this support from the state of Thuringia are already noticeable. A total of 19 teams responded to the call for ideas this year. "That's more submissions than ever before," says the spokesperson for the InSignA Innovation Hub, Professor Thomas Sporer. He continues:
'The now high number of submissions shows, firstly, how many good ideas and how much innovation potential there is in the field of sensor technology and signal analysis and, secondly, that the funding concept of the InSignA Innovation Hub is very attractive for young companies and start-up teams.
Of the 19 applications submitted, twelve ideas were accepted for yesterday's pitch; one team withdrew its submission at short notice yesterday. A jury consisting of representatives from companies and the Thuringian start-up scene, public institutions as well as venture capital and state companies decided on the funding.
Earmarked research funds for the winning teams
The five award-winning teams will receive research and development support for up to six person-months this year. This will enable the teams to drive forward feasibility tests or the development of marketable prototypes and demonstrators, for example.
The winning teams will be supported in implementing their plans by research partners from the Ilmenau High-Performance Center InSignA. The partners include seven Groups at TU Ilmenau, five Thuringian Fraunhofer institutes and the IMMS Institut für Mikroelektronik- und Mechatronik-Systeme gemeinnützige GmbH (IMMS GmbH).
Healyan GmbH: Integration of a carrier tone modulating tone generator into a smartphone app to improve the clinical application of audiovisual neuromodulation
The young company, which started out as a spin-off from the TU Ilmenau, was able to convince the jury for the second time in a row to support its research. Last year, entrepreneur and mechanical engineering graduate from TU Ilmenau, Philipp Caspari, presented the Healyan Glasses, a system with glasses and an app. Through stroboscopic, light-based stimulation of brain cells, the glasses are designed to prevent neurodegenerative diseases and improve well-being and concentration.
This year, Caspari presented an extended approach that is now intended to supplement the visual system with brain-stimulating sounds. By combining visual and acoustic stimulation, a novel therapeutic approach with increased effectiveness is to be developed.
Omnisent GmbH: AI-supported real-time compressed air leakage detection and localization for industrial applications
The Omnisent GmbH team impressed the jury with their idea of an AI-supported solution for detecting compressed air leaks in manufacturing processes using networked AI ultrasonic sensors. Entrepreneur Ann-Kristin Balve and entrepreneur Adrien Jathe showed that up to 30 percent of compressed air is currently lost due to leaks. This means annual losses of over 83 billion euros worldwide and 415 million tons of CO₂ emissions.
Together with the research partners at the InSignA performance center, the young start-up company now wants to work on open questions relating to wireless networking and the energy-efficient operation of ultrasonic sensors. The aim is to use the retrofittable AI-based sensor systems to continuously record and analyze leakage data and quickly locate leaks. This should help companies to cut energy costs, reduce CO₂ emissions and reduce maintenance costs through rapid repair measures.
Prof. Fritz-Hofmann-Gymnasium Kölleda: Understanding computer science
Stefan Rohe, head of the computer science working group, convinced the jury of his idea of making computer science tangible through haptic and physical interactions, similar to the way an abacus does for mathematics. He presented his approach to tangible computer science, in which LEGO® bricks placed on a board serve as programming code. His aim is to get children and young people interested in programming in a playful way.
The computer scientist is now receiving research support in the field of AI-supported image analysis for this new approach, which is expected to be exciting for schoolchildren. The image analysis is necessary in order to understand the LEGO® bricks to capture the programming code. He wants to develop an efficient algorithm that works on commercially available smartphones and reliably recognizes and executes the haptic algorithms that are recorded with the camera.
DELFA Systems GmbH: Structural health monitoring using elastomer-based sensors
Delfa Systems GmbH was selected by the jury as the fifth winning team for research funding. The young company has developed an innovative idea for detecting cracks and movements in structures using elastomer-based sensors. With this idea, the young company is addressing, among other things, the problem of urgently needed structural monitoring in public infrastructure, such as bridges or buildings. Thanks to their elasticity and flexibility, the low-cost sensors adapt to the movements of structures and thus precisely detect changes in the structure. For example, cracks can be monitored or warnings issued before damage occurs to structures,
As part of the funded research project, the reaction of the sensors to humidity and temperature is now to be investigated and a compensation strategy developed. In addition, the suitability of the sensors for crack width monitoring on critical infrastructure structures such as bridges is to be proven using a demonstrator.