Hexagon Supports Scaling Startups With Innovation Platform

‘Sixth Sense’ takes startups’ advanced tech and products from minimum viable product to commercialization

Published: Monday, February 7, 2022 - 12:58

(Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence: North Kingstown, RI) -- Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, which provides engineering, production and quality technology and services to the world’s biggest and most innovative manufacturing leaders around the world, has announced a revolutionary take on supporting startups.

The open innovation platform Sixth Sense brings together startups and industry-leading companies to create transformative solutions that benefit everyone. It promotes sharing resources, data, and ideas to fast-track progress and solve real-world problems that address some of humanity’s greatest challenges, such as the journey to net zero. The challenge areas include sustainability, big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, sensors, and robotics.

Sixth Sense’s first themed challenge—Artificial Intelligence (AI) for sustainable Smart Manufacturing—encompasses all these areas and is also accepting dedicated applications. Startups are encouraged to register their interest for future themed challenges and events.

“We are searching for intelligent, efficient solutions that will not only enhance performance, but benefit people and the planet,” says Parth Joshi, chief product and technology officer of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division. “Industry 4.0 is evolving and pushing to solve complex challenges, but the catch is that you cannot solve big problems without solving lots of little ones at each step with innovation.”

The 10 most innovative proposals will be chosen for an intensive innovate-on-the-job scaling program, supported by Hexagon, key clients, and world-leading mentors. Three final concepts will be offered opportunities to globalize and scale their business as commercial joint ventures.

“Sixth Sense will build a bridge between small businesses and larger manufacturers, helping overcome startups’ challenges with scaling while simultaneously meeting the industry’s need for new ideas,” says Milan Kocić, head of Sixth Sense.

The platform has already partnered with a number of promising young companies and is founded on the principle that diversity is fundamental to innovation and establishing a thriving, open ecosystem.

The selection criteria for Sixth Sense include:
• $1m or less in revenue
• 1–5 years in existence
• Post seed, Series A, Series A+
• Proven traction and product-market fit
• Propensity to scale

Preferred qualities:
• Validation of investment from third party
• IP and licenses

About Hexagon

Hexagon is a global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software, and autonomous technologies. It’s putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality, and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector, and mobility applications.

Hexagon’s technologies are shaping production and people-related ecosystems to become increasingly connected and autonomous, ensuring a scalable, sustainable future.

Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division provides solutions that use data from design and engineering, production, and metrology to make manufacturing smarter.

Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B) has approximately 21,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 3.8 billion euros. Learn more at hexagon.com and follow us @HexagonAB.

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