Brain of Materials is a platform for innovative and smart materials that helps designers, developers, and engineers in various industries to optimize and accelerate their product development processes. In addition, Brain-of-Materials serves as an active sales and marketing tool for material manufacturers. The start-up connects a wide range of players from different industries, such as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) with material manufacturers or various Tier-1 and Tier-2 suppliers. Among the partners and users of the first hour are companies like Kraiburg TPE, Trevira, Mitsubishi Chemical Europe, or Verseidag-Indutex.
The Metropolregion Rhineland awards this prize to particularly innovative ideas in the areas of products and services, environment, service, organizational and business models, and social matters. „With our prize, we want to signal how innovative the Rhineland is as a business location. And you as the award winner, or rather the ‚Brain of Materials AG‘, are part of this powerful overall picture,“ said Ulla Thönnissen at the award ceremony.
Also due to the current economic circumstances caused by the corona pandemic, the concept of Brain of Materials found great appeal. „Numerous globally active OEMs in the wake of the corona pandemic are under enormous pressure to cut costs and succeed,“ explains Steinmetz.
„Products have to be developed ever faster from a ‚time to market‘ perspective. Material selection and processing require reliable information about their durability, impact on the environment and health, and safety-related expertise. In addition, there is growing interest in the origins of products and the conditions under which they are developed and produced. Brain of Materials AG has set out to support these goals for OEMs and suppliers,“ emphasized the IHK CEO.
The Mayor of Mönchengladbach was also pleased that the Innovation Award was presented to a company based in Mönchengladbach: „We are very proud that Hans Peter Schlegelmilch, an entrepreneur from Mönchengladbach, has received the award. With this prize, we are showing that we as a city and region are a good location for innovation and do not need to hide in national and global competition,“ explains Mayor Felix Heinrichs.
„The idea of offering an almost completely digital and forward-looking alternative to an almost purely analog industry shows how strong and creative the start-up scene in Mönchengladbach is. This is not only a sign for the region, but also shows in a cross-regional comparison that companies from Mönchengladbach and their ideas are competitive and even serve as role models“ emphasized Hans Peter Schlegelmilch.