The laboratory of the future already today - thanks to the X-Linker "Lab of the Future

On Friday morning, February 11, 2022, it was that time again: At 9:15 am, the virtual doors to our 5-HT Eventspace opened. This offered 12 startups, 12 corporates and 400+ guests a platform for networking, exchange and innovation. 

Themed "Lab of the Future", this first of three X-Linker events in 2022 aimed to drive innovation and strengthen exchange in the development of digital lab solutions. The 12 pitches from the selected international startups from the fields of digital chemistry contributed to the fulfillment of this goal and already gave us an idea of how the lab could look like in the future.  

Even before the event started, the selected startups shared their excitement on social media. For example, Sakshi Bajpai, Director of Sales at Polymerize, shared via LinkedIn:

Polymerize has been selected to showcase at the 5-HT Digital Hub - Chemistry & Health X-Linker Lab of the Future 2022 event!🚀 We're super excited to be presenting our #aipowered #informatics and #datamanagement #saasplatform that accelerates #researchanddevelopement to #globalleaders in #chemicals, #materials and #pharmamanufacturing. Join us tomorrow to learn how #artificialintelligence and #machinelearning fast-track #rnd🔬
- Sakshi Bajpai, Director of Sales at Polymerize

Mark Warne, CEO and Director at DeepMatter Group plc, also expressed his confidence:

Excited to be participating.
– Mark Warne, CEO and Director at DeepMatter Group plc

Moderator Marco R. Majer, Head of Ecosystems at 5-HT, welcomed all participants to the Blockbuster WeekendBehind the Scenes: Marco R. Majer foreshadowed that the Super Bowl would not be the only exciting event of the weekend

The kick-off: Opening speech and introduction of the jury

Just one of many highlights right at the opening was the welcoming speech by Melanie Maas-Brunner, Member of the Board of Executive Directors & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at BASF SE. In it, she focused on the importance of innovation in the field of Digital Chemistry and how 5-HT can match the innovative solutions of startups with corporate requirements: 

For the chemical industry, Research & Development (R&D) is an essential function for all business activities. But to guarantee a state-of-the-art setup for R&D, we cannot miss out the digitalization of our lab environment. For us at BASF, 5-HT is a valuable source to receive this outside inview and meet promising startups from all around the globe.
- Melanie Maas-Brunner, BASF

At the opening, Melanie Maas-Brunner, Member of the Board of Executive Directors & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at BASF SE, gave a motivating welcome speech

After the introduction of the jury members, Marie Asano, Principal at European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) and Brian Chol Soo Standen, Global Head of Digital Innovation at BASF, the call was "Let's Pitch!".

Innovation, but short and sweet: 12 pitches of 5 minutes each

At 09:55, the pulse of our participating startups started to increase - the pitches began. These 12 selected startups from all over the world pitched their innovative solutions in front of the jury in just 5 minutes each:

• Alchemy Cloud, Inc. (San Francisco, USA)

• Artificial, Inc. (Augsburg, Germany)

• ARXUM GmbH (Kaiserslautern, Germany)

• Atinary Technologies Inc. (Lausanne, Switzerland)

• deepmatter (Glasgow, UK)

• FLUICS CONNECT (Munich, Germany)

• Goodly Innovations GmbH (Munich, Germany)

• inniti (Copenhagen, Denmark)

• Labforward (Berlin, Germany)

• LabTwin – Digital Lab Assistant (Berlin, Germany)

• LabVoice (North Carolina, USA)

• Polymerize (Singapore, Singapore)

The format of the event was very well received by the selected startups. Robert Hoffmeister, CEO at Goodly Innovations GmbH, made the following comment:

What a great event! Thank you 5-HT for organizing this X-linker! it was great to be part of this day! #pharmaceutical #innovation #laboratory #augmentedreality #processimprovement #mes #lims #industry40 #thankyou #event 
– Robert Hoffmeister, CEO at Goodly Innovations GmbH

Robert Hoffmeister pitching the innovative solution of Goodly Innovations GmbH to the jury in just 5 minutes

Claudio Rolli, founder and CEO of FLUICS CONNECT, also thanked us afterwards for the chance to participate in our X-Linker:

Thank you for the amazing organization of this event! Truly enriching experience and glad to showcase FLUICS CONNECT to your audience!🙏 
– Claudio Rolli, founder and CEO of FLUICS CONNECT

Claudio Rolli after presenting his pitch of FLUICS CONNECT's innovative solution in the Q & A session with Marie Asano, ECBF (top right) and Brian Chol Soo Standen, BASF (bottom left)

A successful event through promising exchanges

The 12 pitches of the participating startups formed only the first half of the event. This was followed by the Corporate Speed Dating. During these 1:1 conversations, the startups got the unique chance to exchange ideas with companies from the chemical and pharmaceutical sector. We are proud that also for this X-Linker "Lab of the Future" the following world-renowned corporations took their chance to participate:

• BASF

• Bayer

• BI X

• Freudenberg

• FUCHS GROUP

• Henkel

• Lohmann

• Medichem

• MERCK

• Nitto

• remmers and 

• SAP

In our exhibition area, not only the corporates but also the guests could inform themselves about the participating startups

We would like to thank all participants for the successful event and the positive feedback! However, the X-Linker "Lab of the Future" event was only the beginning of a series of X-Linkers for the year 2022.

Already in April, the motto is once again: Build crosslinks now!