Successful GSC event in Munich

Our European Semi-Final in Munich yesterday was very successful. After the keynote speech of Dr. Geiger - the former President of the Bundesnachrichtendienst - the five startups pitched to the audience and our distinguished panel of judges. Because of the high-quality of the entrants it was a tough job for the judges to select the 1st and 2nd place among these top European contestants. After 2 hours of deliberations and individual interviews with the entrepreneurs, they told the audience their decision - emphasizing again the difficulty of chosing the winners among these five high-quality innovative ideas.

The 1st place winner is Auxetix, from the UK. Their mitigation fabrics use a completely new kind of technology that provides enhanced multiple-event protection for windows by exploiting the unusual behaviour of the helical-auxetic system. The fabrics, which are composed of large numbers of thin high-strength fibres wrapped around elastomeric cores, can also be used to line military vehicles and aircraft, enhance body armours, in transportation crates, and for the protection of stored ordnance. The technology responds to a blast by expanding which allows a blast front to pass through the material slowing it down and reducing its capacity to kill or injure.

The 2nd place winner, Psylock provides a unique biometric technology that authenticates computer users securely on any computer, without requiring hardware or installation and with very precise recognition rates. Each user is authenticated by the specific way he or she types at a common computer keyboard. The analysis not only validates dependant parameters, like the speed and rhythm of typing which can vary depending on the circumstances, but also stable parameters of typing like left- or right-handedness, typical typing mistakes, correction methods and more. The result is calculated based on complex statistical models and artificial intelligence.