Schaeffler becomes anchor partner for STARTUP AUTOBAHN

Schaeffler is a new ‘anchor partner‘ to the Stuttgart-based STARTUP AUTOBAHN innovation platform. The platform brings established companies and start-ups together with the objective of developing new technologies and bringing them to market readiness more rapidly. 

As an anchor partner, Schaeffler is establishing a network together with various start-ups that spans the company’s innovation clusters: ‘Hydrogen and Energy Transition‘, ‘Electric and Automated Mobility’, ‘Robotics and IoT’, ‘Bearing Technologies’, ‘Material and Surface Science’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’. 

“As a global automotive and industrial supplier, we want to pioneer motion to advance how the world moves,” explains Uwe Wagner, chief technology officer at Schaeffler. “STARTUP AUTOBAHN is perfect for Schaeffler and is an important milestone in our innovation strategy. Our strategic cooperation with start-ups enables us to identify growth markets, enhance our core business together with strong partners and offer innovative, sustainable future technologies.” 

30,000 qualified start-ups

STARTUP AUTOBAHN, which was founded in 2016 and now includes more than 30 partners, offers a network of 30,000 start-ups. Since the platform was established, more than 320 pilot projects have been developed. In addition to its headquarters in Stuttgart, the network also has locations in China, India and Singapore.

“We are extremely happy to welcome Schaeffler as the newest anchor partner to our platform,” states Sascha Karimpour, managing director at Plug & Play Germany and a co-initiator of STARTUP AUTOBAHN. 

“As a leading global supplier to the automotive and industrial sectors, Schaeffler brings over seven decades of expertise in motion and mobility to the table. It is clear that their diverse product and system portfolio will enable valuable opportunities to start-ups. In collaboration with start-ups, OEMs and other partners, new ideas and technologies can be developed to the next level for implementation into new services, products and processes. We are looking forward to getting started.”

Pilot projects developed together

Managers and experts from Schaeffler’s specialist departments select the appropriate start-ups, based on the innovation clusters. Pilot projects are then collaboratively developed and, in the next stage, presented to a wide audience at the twice-annual Expo Day event. The subsequent objective is to work together in the continued development of these pilot projects to achieve market readiness. The partner network’s broad spectrum is a particularly attractive aspect: 

“It provides a place to meet existing customers and a large number of suppliers, as well as new partners and exciting companies that have the technologies relevant to us,” explains Prof Dr-Ing Tim Hosenfeldt, senior vice president of Research and Innovation and Corporate Technology.

“We see the further digitalisation of our products and production processes in particular as a source of major opportunities for innovation – for both the automotive and industrial sectors.”