MAN Truck & Bus is therefore breaking new ground: with a pitch event to which 18 international start-ups from the fields of e-mobility, connected transport and intelligent supply chain were invited, the Munich-based company wants to find and promote innovative concepts for its own business. The aim was to find fresh ideas that MAN could integrate into its existing product, service and process portfolio or incorporate into the development of new business models. In collaboration with the European Innovation Council (EIC), the first Startup Pitch Event (EIC Corporate Day) took place at the MAN Truck Forum in Munich in mid-March.

Christoph Herr, Head of Strategy & Product Management at MAN Truck & Bus, sees a great opportunity in bringing the founders together with MAN experts: "Startups play an important role for us. We believe that flexible, creative start-ups can enormously strengthen the innovative capacity of the large company MAN and want to find out how we can work efficiently with them. We have already practiced this very successfully with the CitE vehicle project and can well imagine acting as a partner to innovative start-ups more often."

85 start-ups from all over Europe applied to take part in Munich. 18 of them were selected to present their ideas to 150 leading MAN employees and Group partners. The entrepreneurs traveled from 12 countries, from Portugal and Belgium to Finland. They brought with them ideas from the fields of e-mobility, connected transport & new mobility, intelligent operations & supply chain, smart maintenance & inspection or data analytics & competitive intelligence, which MAN Truck & Bus hopes will provide fresh impetus for its own business.

In addition to developers of pioneering transmissions for e-trucks (Mazaro from Belgium) or innovative battery management systems (Insplorion from Sweden), the Dutch company OneWatt, whose sensors (Embedded Acoustic Recognition Sensors, EARS), together with artificial intelligence, can analyze engine noise so precisely that it can detect impending faults before they occur, was also present. This can prevent engine damage and downtime. The German start-up ONO has invented a futuristic eCargobike for transporting goods over the last mile. Other ideas relate to optimized route planning (Bestmile from Sweden), robot programming (Cambrian Intelligence, UK) or 3D sensors for accident prevention (fastree 3D, Switzerland).

The EIC Corporate Day is part of the SME Instrument Business Acceleration Services, which are carried out on behalf of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). This institution was set up by the European Commission to support a number of EU-initiated programs in the areas of SME Support & Innovation, Environment, Climate Action and Energy. The SME Instrument is part of the European Innovation Council Pilot (EIC Pilot), which aims to support ambitious innovation pioneers, start-ups, small businesses and scientists with promising ideas. The primary focus of the SME Instrument is on innovations that have the potential to create new markets and jobs, generate growth and enable a higher standard of living.