Frankfurt am Main, 29. Juni 2021

On 8th June 2021, VINCI Energies once again held the VINCI Startup Speed Dating digital event, surpassing last year’s success: 130 startups (+50%) from the D-A-CH region registered in advance of the event and 25 of them were given the opportunity to present their innovative solutions to more than 100 operational decision-makers (+40%) from the VINCI Energies network. Within 75 minutes, this resulted in more than 500 individual points of contact and 116 matches – the first meetings for further cooperation are already being planned.

In five 15-minute speed dating sessions on the topics of smart maintenance, green hydrogen, cyber security, digital twin and smart construction, the young companies presented their solutions to decision-makers from the VINCI Energies network and met with an enthusiastic audience. The majority of VINCI Energies executives who attended gave the solutions presented a positive assessment based on their potential for ongoing projects, resulting in a total of 116 matches. Initial workshops, presentations at extended business unit (BU) leadership meetings and tie-ins to customer projects are already planned with a number of start-ups.

On the topic of green hydrogen, which includes the areas of energy transition and sustainability, three solutions stood out among others: from the start-up Enapter, the compact electrolyser with patented AEM technology (Anion Exchange Membrane) for the cost-effective and economical production of green hydrogen. In addition, a software-driven solution from EnergieKoppler, a spin-off of the TU Dresden, for cross-sector networking and control of energy plants. And an AI-supported solution from the start-up enspired to give small electricity producers simple, cost-optimised and short-term access to the power exchange.

The feedback on the event from both the start-ups and the VINCI Energies decision-makers was overwhelmingly positive: All participants found the event extremely valuable and would participate in a Startup Speed Dating event again.

“After last year’s great success, our second VINCI Startup Speed Datings proved to be a real innovation magnet. With their unique approaches, skills and creativity, the young companies that took part once again convinced us of the importance of cooperating with start-ups for successful digitalisation. After all, they bring precisely the crucial innovations that we are looking for in many of our customer projects,” says Dr Bernhard Kirchmair, VINCI Energies CDO for DACH and Eastern Europe. “The first cooperation talks between the start-ups and our decision-makers have already taken place in the wake of the event and we are sure that this time, too, concrete concepts will develop from them. This is a real win-win-win situation for our customers, the start-ups and ourselves, and we are already looking forward to developing our business together.”

– Dr. Bernhard Kirchmair | former CDO at VINCI Energies Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe

25 innovations in 75 minutes

The event was opened with a speech by Dr Bernhard Kirchmair, who emphasised that cooperation with start-ups and VINCI Energies brands is always on an equal footing and that long-term cooperation is sought through the Group’s own Startup Connect programme. After a friendly welcome by Dr Reinhard Schlemmer, Managing Director of VINCI Germany, Holger Boxnick, BU Manager of Actemium, and Stefan Labenski, BU Manager of Axians Neo-Suite, then presented two practical examples of how market-ready solutions have been successfully implemented at customers from cooperations with start-ups.

This was followed by the speed dating sessions, in which five young companies took it in turns to present their solutions to decision-makers from the VINCI Energies network in a five-minute pitch and were then available for a seven-minute Q&A session before a flying change introduced the next pitch.

During the final wrap-up by Katharina Hickel, Head of Digital Ecosystem at VINCI Energies, the first reactions of the participants were already captured interactively by a word cloud: business-relevant, exciting, well-organised, efficient, informative, innovative, inspiring – just a small part of the consistently positive reactions of all participants.

Excellent digital transformer

The VINCI Energies Digital business unit, which is responsible for the Speed Dating start-up, was recently awarded the Digital Lab Award 2021 by the business magazine Capital and Infront Consulting. It is one of the top 3 digital innovation units out of more than 250 in the German-speaking world.

VINCI Energies has been working with young companies for some time. On the one hand, to benefit from their agility and creative mindset, and on the other, to bring the start-ups themselves together with the decision-makers and customers relevant to their business. In this way, they become part of VINCI Energies’ constantly growing digital ecosystem. The “German Start-up and Innovation Study 2020” conducted by Gründerszene, KPMG and HTW Berlin shows that participants recognise real potential in such collaborations: 59% of start-ups focus on expanding sales and marketing, while SMEs (62%) and corporations (87%) see advantages primarily in new technologies and business models. The success of VINCI Startup Speed Dating is demonstrated by the current business situation: the system integrator is already actively working with more than half of the startups that participated last year in the form of partnerships such as customer projects, commercial partnership agreements and proof of concepts.