You’ve experienced the creative anarchy of hackathons. Now, it’s time for something far more tangible – a potentially career-defining event as we recruit talented people to form new companies. The HighTechXL FasTrackathon on 27 March is a proven approach to building companies around advanced technology, tech so advanced you might not even realize it exists.
BEYOND A HACKATHON
Hackathons ask participants to brainstorm solutions to problems that companies have trouble solving. Think of FasTrackathon as a reverse hackathon … an invitation to get acquainted with our deeptech, then build your own venture. We supply the technology and defined application. You supply ideas on building the venture.
We’ve worked with CERN and Nikhef since last summer, building three startup teams (see the video above) currently advancing through our 9-month special edition accelerator program. Now, we’re putting together the next cohort, and we need skills from many domains – entrepreneurs, physicists, engineers, market researchers, operations experts and business professionals.
FasTrackathon focuses on four advanced technologies, two of which are technologies CERN startup teams are already using to build their ventures. Those two teams are searching for people with whom they can partner to broaden the application areas of their technologies and which they will support.
The other advanced technologies from Nikhef and TNO hold promise in some unique application areas, which are ready for new teams to “fast-track” on 27 March.
FasTrackathon focuses on four advanced technologies:
1 – CERN’s STRUCTURED LASER BEAM:
- Gas leak detection in industrial settings such as chemical plants
- IDAR in autonomous vehicles
- Laser marking on curved surfaces
2 – Nikhef’s HOLOGRAPHIC EMITTER TECHNOLOGY:
- Enabling instantaneous 3D printing
- LIDAR applications
- 3D lithography in Microelectromechanical, or MEMS, systems
3 – CERN’s CO2 COOLING:
- Photonic chip cooling
- Improving the efficiency of medical imaging and diagnostic devices such as x-rays
and MRIs - Efficient cooling of detectors in mini-satellites for space exploration
4 – TNO’s CO2 CAPTURE AND CONVERSION
- This emerging technology uses a porous membrane to capture CO2 from the air, converting it to hydrocarbon fuel in a carbon-neutral process. How’s that for groundbreaking?
We are recruiting teams per technology, but we’re flexible … participate just for this event or join a venture-building team to co-found a company.
We’re very serious about giving you cutting-edge technology, defined applications, then embedding you in a real company.
FasTrackathon is scheduled for Wednesday, March 27, 13:30 to 17:00 at High Tech Plaza, Building 27, High Tech Campus Eindhoven. (This is also a chance to experience High Tech Campus’s new startup hub, the largest in the Netherlands.)
About HighTechXL:
HighTechXL is the Netherlands’ premier accelerator and is focused on deeptech. HighTechXL is an initiative of the Eindhoven Startup Alliance with ASML, Philips, NTS Group, High Tech Campus Eindhoven, ABN AMRO Bank, Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), Brainport Development and EY as its members.
HighTechXL works with some of the smartest people in the world with some of the boldest projects. Currently, CERN. HighTechXL teams are working with CERN, the world-famous particle research effort in Switzerland to take cutting-edge CERN technology to market. You can read more about that here.
Since its founding in 2013, HighTechXL startups have an incredible survival rate of 73 percent and have raised more than 60 million euros.
