Sixteen startups from South Holland participated in 4YFN (Four years from now), the annual startup fair of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The goal: to get in touch with new international customers, venture investors and other parties who can help the companies in their growth. With proper preparation, startups can generate leads here in four days that would normally take them a year.
Digitalzh promotes digital solutions locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. As a regional European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH), we facilitate connections between companies and innovators across Europe. One of the places where that connection is made is 4YFN. During the tenth edition, Dutch startups presented their latest innovations in cybersecurity, eHealth, artificial intelligence, 6G, apps and cloud applications.
Invest and innovate
The fair provided a stage for more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world. As many as sixteen companies upheld the excellent Dutch reputation for start-ups and scale-ups; a doubling compared to last year. Marit Kuypers-van Meurs, Senior Project Manager Internationalization High Tech at InnovationQuarter, is one of the driving forces behind this project.
“InnovationQuarter wants to invest and innovate in South Holland and brings together innovative entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions and governments,” explains Marit. “With support from the municipality of The Hague and the province of South Holland, we are creating a fertile ecosystem for startups. Our presence here makes it possible for young entrepreneurs to establish international contacts that can take their business forward.”
The Dutch input was reinforced by Prince Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau, Ton Jonker (director of Economy and Energy of the Province of South Holland) and Sandra van de Waart (department head of Economy of the Municipality of The Hague). To show how important startups are for the Dutch economy, Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Micky Andriaansens also visited the Dutch pavilion at the fair.
International contacts
Marit: “The concepts presented by the startups here in Barcelona are fully developed and ready to go into production. We help them find the right partners here in an international setting to make that step. We are extremely happy with the result; the entrepreneurs return to the Netherlands with a large number of useful leads. A great achievement.”
Martine de Leeuw, co-founder and CMO of Chatlicense and one of the startups in attendance, agrees with Marit’s words.
Martine: “We already work with KPN and came here to establish more contacts with international telecom providers. We succeeded. Our wish is for providers to make our mobile app, which helps children and their parents use their cell phones safely, available to customers.”
Maarten Everts, CTO of Linksight, also looks back on a successful participation in 4YFN:
“This fair provided us with an awful lot of interesting contacts, both inside and outside the Netherlands.”
For Senseglove, the presence in Barcelona proved above all that their product is ready for the market:
“Over the past few days, we have been able to introduce Senseglove to a wide audience. The amount of attention we have received is amazing,” says Dheeraj Adnani, Business Developer at the young company. Senseglove develops virtual reality gloves. “We can link our product to so many applications. The event proved that our concept is right.”
4YFN Awards
For participating startup Whispp, there was even more to gain than valuable contacts. Literally. As one of five finalists, the innovative company was close to winning the 4YFN Awards. Whispp has developed assistive speech technology for people with severe stuttering or voice problems, transforming whispered and affected speech into a clear, natural voice.
Despite missing out on the grand prize, Joris Castermans, founder and CEO of Whispp, was full of pride:
“We are proud to have been on the main stage of 4YFN and to showcase the impact of our innovative solutions in the digital startup world. It was an exciting and very successful ride at MWC and 4YFN for us. We made great progress in establishing partnerships with several major telecom operators and cell phone manufacturers to implement Whispp in their services and devices.”
Another participating startup Skinive – AI Dermatologist had become a finalist for the Digital Health startups & Top-50 4YFN startups.
A complete list of participating startups:
- Audus Technologies: Transforms connected devices into advanced hearing solutions.
- ANTENNEX: Enhances wireless connectivity for seamless communication.
- TokenMe: Creates a secure working environment on construction sites with wireless technology.
- EW2Health: Develops data-driven solutions that enable personalized health programs.
- Qualinx: Innovates the most energy-efficient GNSS and IoT chips.
- MantiSpectra: Introduces the world’s smallest NIR spectral sensor module for materials analysis.
- Villari: Offers sensor systems for permanent detection of crack growth in steel structures.
- Skinive: Simplifies skin tracking and diagnosis with advanced AI and smartphone cameras.
- Whispp: Transforms speech for people with severe stuttering or voice problems into a clear, natural voice.
- SLIMDESIGN: Develops a compact body camera for improved safety in various situations.
- Osind Medi Tech: Promotes hand rehabilitation with the “hand in motion” system.
- SenseGlove: Transforms interactions with tactile gloves for virtual reaility applications
- ChatLicense: Guides child and parent in the online world of cell phones
- Droonstra: Specializes in drone inspections at height for telecom companies.
- Linksight: Enables easy and secure data collaboration without sharing sensitive information.
What Digitalzh can do for you
Digitalzh is part of the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) and an initiative of InnovationQuarter and TU Delft. Digitalzh helps companies grow optimally in a digital future, from startup to established company.
One thing is for sure: after another successful edition of 4YFN, InnovationQuarter and Digitalzh are also present next year. Would you like to be there with your startup? Contact Marit Kuypers-van Meurs now at marit.kuypers@innovationquarter.nl.