TÜV SÜD has awarded the TÜV SÜD Innovation Award for the first time. The joint winners are the Munich-based startup ProGlove and Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich). They have jointly developed an intelligent work glove that simplifies workflows in production and logistics. The prize, endowed with €25,000, is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have developed and already brought to market particularly promising products or services in cooperation with academia.
"All of the finalist projects demonstrate the enormous innovative power that comes from a close partnership between SMEs and research. Our TÜV SÜD Innovation Award, presented for the first time this year, therefore sends a clear message: It is worthwhile for smaller companies to enter into collaborations with universities and research institutions. TÜV SÜD congratulates the finalists: We wish the three projects continued market success."
emphasized Prof. Dr.-Ing. Axel Stepken, Chairman of the Board of Management of TÜV SÜD AG, at the award ceremony in the Munich headquarters.
“The TÜV SÜD Innovation Award is a great recognition for us”
The idea of an intelligent work glove developed by ProGlove and the Technical University of Munich convinced the high-ranking jury. The intelligent glove succeeds in connecting workers and digitized production processes. Tarek Ouertani by ProGlove, who led the cooperation together with his colleague Constantin Scheuermann from the Institute of Computer Science at the Technical University of Munich, emphasizes:
"The TÜV SÜD Innovation Award is a great recognition for us: The development of ProGlove was an intensive process. Thanks to the close cooperation with the Technical University of Munich, we were able to develop and validate various stages of our intelligent glove. This partnership is a great success that is already bearing fruit."
The TÜV SÜD Innovation Award was launched last year to mark the 150th anniversary of Germany's largest TÜV (Technical Inspection Authority). The award is aimed at SMEs across all sectors throughout Germany that, together with a university or non-university scientific institution such as the Helmholtz, Max Planck, or Fraunhofer Society, develop and market a product, process innovation, or technology-oriented service. Evaluation criteria include:
- the Innovation content (future orientation, novelty, product maturity),
- the To use (increased efficiency, profitability, synergy effects),
- the Suitability for medium-sized businesses (Relevance for small businesses),
- the practicability and
- the successful implementation.
The goal of the TÜV SÜD Innovation Award is to demonstrate the benefits of research collaborations to small and medium-sized enterprises and to raise public awareness of innovative technology collaborations. TÜV SÜD will therefore continue to honor innovations in the coming years: You can find information about the 2018 Innovation Award here.
