CHEManager supports the start-up scene with the CHEManager Innovation Pitch. Last year, supported by our sponsors 5-HT Digital Hub, JMP, Plan-B, Flanders Investment & Trade and Heraeus, we presented 22 start-ups with their ideas – twice as many as the year before.

At the end of January, a jury of experts selected three winners from these 22 start-ups from seven countries that had been given the opportunity to present themselves as part of the CHEManager Innovation Pitch initiative over the course of the past year. One winner was selected in each of the categories "Value to Society," "Value to Industry" and "Value to Sustainability”.

The winners are:

Affix Labs in the category “Value to Society”

Senorics in the category “Value to Industry”

Caphenia in the category “Value to Sustainability”

The CHEManager Innovation Pitch initiative is supported by sponsors who enable young companies to present themselves to a broad public in the chemical and life sciences industry without any financial participation, thus attracting the attention of potential customers, partners and investors.

The expert jury consisted of the following members: Andrea Gruß, (CHEManager), Ann-Kathrin Kaufmann (Biocampus Straubing), Tine Schaerlaekens (Catalisti/Flanders Investment & Trade), Holger Bengs (BCNP Consultants), Martin Demel (SAS Institute/JMP), Matthias Hoerteis (Heraeus).

The experts particularly emphasized the diversity of the ideas implemented by the 22 start-ups, which are not only relevant to industry but also to society. CHEManager took account of this diversity in advance by awarding three prizes in the categories "Value to Society," "Value to Industry" and "Value to Sustainability".

The winner in the "Value to Society" category is Affix Labs. The start-up from Finland fought a neck-and-neck race with the German start-up MK2 Biotechnologies and ultimately won by a narrow margin.

In the "Value to Industry" category, Senorics came out on top ahead of Holo-Light from Austria and Hafnium Labs from Denmark.

And Caphenia won the "Value to Sustainability" category just ahead of IVOC-X and Ineratec from Germany and Cellugy from Portugal, which were tied for second place.