Insights
Riiico: What happens if you win Sixth Sense…
We caught up with Jan Büchsenschütz (right), co-founder and CMO of RIIICO to see how they are doing since co-winning the first cohort. Jan! Great to see you. Tell us what happened after you were announced as the joint winner of the first Sixth Sense Cohort… I think two important things happened. We got access to other corporates – which as a young founder, you do not often see because you don't have a lot of credibility in the market. But someone like Hexagon saying, “Hey, this is someone you can trust and who brings value to the market,” was a stamp of approval that saw customers come to us. Other partners came to us too saying, “Oh you’re working with Hexagon, would you like to do a proof-of-concept with us?” So that was very valuable. Secondly, we continued to get support from Sixth Sense. I know that often accelerators let you go to begin with the next cohort. But I was very pleased that so many people at Hexagon stayed close to Riiico and have helped us as we continue to scale. We have had great conversations regarding Nexus – the new manufacturing intelligence platform, as well opportunities with Leica Geosystems. Winning Sixth Sense accelerated our conversations. So what can you tell us about your progress since? It's still all a little confidential of course, but I can tell you that we are working closely with Hexagon. The entire Industrial Metaverse, which Riiico’s data and browser-based approach enables, is very valuable for Hexagon and other industrial Metaverse players in the market. I think everyone in the market needs to find the recurring use case and the deep value in the Industrial Metaverse. It's a little bit like autonomous driving and the beginnings of the internet – it will take time to build this ecosystem around it. That's something we and Hexagon share a common vision on. You’re well-placed for when the market matures…. Yes, I agree. One of the good things we have done (and we have made plenty of mistakes) is focus on the technology and on building the software. We have 18 people in the company now and I am the only person with a business degree – everyone else is computer science, engineering, informatics. We can convert data and enrich other people's software. I think we're well positioned for what's going to come. You’ve just secured a $1.5 million, pre-seed fundraise with Earlybird Venture Capital – how did it come about? Investment is always on your mind as a founder because you want to build things. One of our founders spent half of his time working on fundraising for probably six months. It was worth it because we are so lucky to have gained Earlybird Ventures as our investment partner. Usually investors are good at finance but not so good at industrial expertise or deep tech but we don’t want an investor sitting on our board that has no understanding or excitement about what we are
Scale with Sixth Sense: How to work with corporate partners
For an innovative start-up, the chance to work closely with an established company presents a huge opportunity. Large corporations have resources and they have customers – two things that are often in short supply for young companies. Of course the corporation has much to gain also – inviting agile innovation and fresh thinking in. Collaboration between start-ups and large corporations is nothing new. According to McKinsey, three quarters of Fortune 100 companies have active venture units and between 2013 and 2019 there was a 32 per cent year-on-year growth in corporate venture capital investments. The key is getting it right – and this requires work on both sides. So as a start-up or scale-up – how do you navigate these opportunities? What should you be looking for in a relationship and how do you find it? We spoke to Abhishek Sengupta, vice president of portfolio and strategy at Hexagon to find out... Choose wisely Identifying a corporate that you want to work closely with should come down to two things, says Abhishek. Central to this is the customer value creation. “The aim of this open collaboration on both sides needs to be bringing additional value to customers. You must both be aligned on this to create a win-win situation.” The second factor is more broadly around a shared vision for how they bring this value to a customer. “For example the start-up might want to bring value by democratising -access to a technology, but the corporate doesn’t believe in doing that. Then you’ve got a conflict of interest and it’s not going to work.” Breaking the ice (with the right person) So you’ve found your perfect match – how do you make yourself known to them? Programmes like Sixth Sense are obviously a wonderful way to get spotted and test the water working together but this isn’t always an option. “There’s nothing wrong with identifying the right individual and simply getting in touch,” says Abhishek. “There are many start-ups that approach our general managers and come through that way. You need to start somewhere and then it’s about building up the relationship.” Of course, knowing the best person is also part of the challenge. It depends on your offer, says Abhishek. “If you’ve got an innovation around joint value creation that could be productised or taken to market within a few months, it’s good to take it to an operational manager. But if it’s more disruptive technology that requires a bit more vision, it’s best to approach someone who thinks outside of the box – such as head of straegy or the chief product officer.” Are we in this for life? This is a hard question to answer – it depends on the stakeholders but Abhishek believes one should judge this by milestones. “Certainly both parties should try and figure out what they want to get out of the collaboration and create a plan based on that. But then I believe in setting small goals and milestones and once those
Sixth Sense Summit: highlights
The culmination of our second challenge, the Sixth Sense Summit, took place on 01 February in the Hague at Unknown Group’s recently opened Titaan innovation hub, with 3D tactile sensing technology startup GelSight securing victory. Over 150 members of the European start-up community, investors and manufacturing experts attended the event to participate in roundtables, meet-ups, networking and exhibition, and, of course, hear the pitches of Sixth Sense's brilliant finalists. The Summit began with an introduction to the event from moderator Michael Hayman and Head of Sixth Sense Milan Kocic before a welcome to our judges and further information on the venue from Unknown Group CEO Hendrik Halbe. This was followed by a panel discussion exploring the concept of sustainable manufacturing – hosted by Richard Heggie, founder and CEO of H Catalyst. Ana Avaliani, Director of Enterprise and Sustainable Development at the Royal Academy of Engineering, shared an overview of the broader ecosystem around sustainable production and highlighted a few cutting-edge technologies able to make a positive impact. Next, Abhishek Sengupta, Vice President of Portfolio & Strategy at Hexagon MI and Marion Rouzeaud, Global Sustainability Director at Hexagon MI, described Hexagon's approach to sustainability and how the company plans to develop its eco-friendly practices in the future. Finally, Milan Kocic and Jeroen van de Bosch, CCO of the Unknown Group, shared their perspectives on whether start-ups could help to drive more sustainable practices in the manufacturing industry. The discussion on stage was followed by a Q&A with the audience, who asked how consumers can help to steer the industry towards net zero, and lower waste and pollution, by making sustainable choices. Insightful conversations continued in the breakout rooms. In a series of roundtables, the guests of the Summit explored how to measure start-ups' impact on promoting sustainability, talked about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the industry, and discovered the foundations of building successful ventures. Those attendees, who did not join the roundtables, had an opportunity to make new connections while exploring the Sixth Sense Summit exhibit. Multiple stands demonstrated the recent Hexagon technologies and the innovative solutions built by our second cohort of start-ups. The event culminated with the Demo pitch ceremony, live-streamed to viewers worldwide. Our fantastic innovators – Threedy, Oculavis, 3YOURMIND, CASTOR, GelSight, Augmentir, Teratonics and JITbase – pitched their concepts in a bid to win and secure a partnership with Hexagon. Each speaker had six minutes to tell the audience about the company's product and four minutes to answer the judges' questions, with Israeli startup CASTOR selected as runner-up and US company GelSight as the winner. GelSight’s proprietary technology enables digital tactile sensing., with the sensitivity and resolution of human touch to transform industrial process efficiency, accuracy, and quality. The judges were impressed that over 90 days of the Sixth Sense challenge, the GelSignt team integrated its invention into Hexagon's device and even found a potential customer excited to buy a combined solution. The second Sixth Sense challenge is now over, but the
Cohort spotlight: JITbase
The mission: “Solve the CNC machinist shortage while increasing your machine uptime” Manufacturers operate busy shop floors – by directing optimal pathways for operators, they can boost production and make the most of the time they have. “We believe that a CNC machine should never be stopped,” says Frederic Scherer, CEO, JITbase. “This is why, in the context of the labour shortage, we seek to make the interaction between humans and machines as efficient as possible.” The problem we’re addressing Skilled staff shortages have long been an issue for manufacturers. But the pressures to increase production have not gone away. “Our industry has dealt with a shortage of skilled labour for a decade now,” says Frederic. “In a typical factory one operator is assigned to each CNC machine. When using JITbase, the software helps the operator know where to go and when. So one operator can be responsible for many machines.” What we do JITbase offers a software solution that enables manufacturers to boost productivity by reading data coming from Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines in any factory. JITbase’s optimal path system finds the optimal path for each operator. “The optimal path means the optimal sequence of manual operations that operators have to perform on different machines, in order to increase overall machine uptime,” says Frederic. “Operators tend to go to the first machine that stops, while it can be more efficient to prioritise another machine that stops a few minutes later, but can then run lights-out after a short human intervention." Our history Frédéric worked for several years at Air Liquide in continuous improvement where he experienced the transition to Industry 4.0 from a large industrial group. He founded JITbase to facilitate this transition, for large companies as well as manufacturing SMEs. Interesting fact about JITbase JITbase started as a digital work instruction tool for knowledge sharing. As the company got its first customers in the aerospace industry who were striving to find solutions to fight the machinist shortage, JITbase collaborated with them to finally pivot and focus a new product known as OPS today. What we hope to get from Sixth Sense “The Sixth Sense program is the perfect opportunity for us and Hexagon to collaborate, learn from each other and accelerate the introduction of new Smart Manufacturing solutions. We hope to use this experience to leverage our and Hexagon’s respective strengths and release an offering that helps the industry address enduring challenges.”
Cohort spotlight: 3YOURMIND
The mission “We automate on-demand manufacturing” 3YOURMIND promises manufacturers “your parts, one click away.” In a world where many parts used in manufacturing can be created by 3D printing, 3YourMind enables companies to create their own parts on-site, source them externally, or indeed check to see if more of their parts can be created on-demand. “Additive manufacturing is truly a team sport,” says 3YOURMIND’s senior business development manager William Cuervo. “With our 3D printing part identification solution consolidating workflow steps, we can help customers save enormous amounts of time and promote the closest point of use, on-demand production, to help overcome supply chain issues.” The problem we’re addressing Supply chain issues can significantly slow down operations when people need new parts. It’s an issue that has been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Suez Canal obstruction and the war in Ukraine – but it is nothing new. “The reality is we've always had supply chain issues. The only difference is that a global pandemic happened and everyone became exposed to the topic,” explains William. “So the reality is we will continue having supply chain issues – companies leveraging smarter manufacturing and procurement practices will be able to reduce the impact of these. Reducing reliance on offshoring manufacturing and bringing things closer to home is sensible.” On-demand manufacturing also saves on costs –3YOURMIND saves 30% on operational costs. Not only are on-demand parts cheaper to create, they can also keep older machines working for longer by providing parts. “We can avoid the need for costly new machines,” adds William. What we do The end-to-end on-demand manufacturing solution helps companies to identify and produce parts when and where they are needed. The software analyses part data to ensure the best business case for on-demand production throughout the entire product lifecycle. 3YOURMIND can support part screening, digital inventory management and quality management. “When identifying parts for on-demand manufacturing, we help identify five times as many more use cases, and we cut the qualification time in half,” says William. “So we know we're helping you identify and qualify parts at a rapid rate getting those parts ordered internally and or externally. This, in turn, increases the utilisation of the machines by 130%.” Our history Co-founders Aleksander Ciszek and Stephan Kühr 3YOURMIND launched in 2014 as a 3D part ordering marketplace. Since then, 3YOURMIND has grown to offer a software platform that captures the full additive manufacturing value chain by helping customers identify, qualify, order, and produce parts Over the years, 3YOURMIND has been selected for numerous awards, including winning the 2016 Formnext Startup Challenge and recognition of CEO Aleksander Ciszek in Forbes Europe’s 2018 ‘30 Under 30’ list. Interesting fact about 3YourMind In March of 2022, 3YOURMIND partnered with other members of the 3D printing community to launch the ‘Stand With Ukraine’ initiative to support Ukrainian humanitarian and defense efforts. The 3YOURMIND platform enables 3D makers to print critical parts, like tourniquets, from anywhere in the world and deliver them to Ukrainian aid
Sixth Sense: a year in open innovation
Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence launched the Sixth Sense open innovation platform in January 2022. Our goal is to create an ecosystem bringing scaling start-ups together with some of the world’s biggest companies, to turn real-world problems into transformative solutions and share valuable resources. The Sixth Sense platform aims to take start-ups with advanced tech from minimum viable product to global commercialisation, leading the way for innovation in the smart manufacturing space. We invite proposals from scaling start-ups and set specific challenges based on the pressing demands our customers are facing. In return, participating companies get access to our technology, world-beating data and our customers. Milan Kocić, head of Sixth Sense for Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, said: “Sixth Sense will build a bridge between small businesses and larger manufacturers, helping overcome start-ups’ challenges with scaling, while simultaneously meeting the industry’s need for new ideas.” https://youtu.be/KlOboK4yuPs First cohort The first Sixth Sense pitch day took place in March, where we heard from 13 passionate and ambitious innovators working on potentially transformative solutions in the smart manufacturing space. The quality of the pitches gave our panel of expert judges a difficult task in choosing just seven. Still, after much deliberation, we selected our first cohort of scaling start-ups IconPro, SmartUQ, Eyeflow AI, Praemo, SmartParts, SMARTPM and RIIICO. For two months, the companies underwent an intensive innovate-on-the-job program. They collaborated with the Hexagon MI team to develop the projects they were going to introduce on the Demo Day and worked with our team of experts, coaches and mentors to refine their business plans, pitches and technology. On 25 May, the first cohort gathered in Tobacco Dock in London for the first Sixth Sense Demo Day. The start-ups presented their ideas to an advisory board of industry experts to secure Hexagon's support in bringing their product or service to a global audience. The three winners were: RIIICO – a software and AI company aiming to transform the manufacturing industry by delivering cutting edge, interactive digital twins of factories. SmartParts – the start-up that is working on the integrated solution combining materials, hardware and software to connect manufacturing data to additive materials and parts. Praemo – the company building Razor™ — an analytics engine combining industry expertise with AI and the IIoT to predict and prevent disruption to operations. The program had a tremendously positive effect on the progress of our first alums. Highlights from other members of the cohort since include: Eyeflow.AI have launched a new and unique product that has found a niche in the market through the inspection of stamped metals. SMARTPM's Metaflex product family has been selected as one of the top 3 innovative solutions in the Metal Madrid Exhibition. Their MIC automation platform has won Most Innovative Industry 4.0 solution in the BIEMH22 out of more than 100 other candidates. SmartUQ has signed up eight new customers and ten new resellers across the globe. https://youtu.be/lx4VTDJxvBc Second Cohort In July, Sixth Sense announced its second challenge, aimed at advanced