EnginX: Smart software for complex engineering

In manufacturing, quality is essential and projects need to be done right the first time. The engineering component in such projects is both complex and time-consuming. According to the founders of EnginX, there are more efficient ways of working. CEO Saskia Eijkelhof talks about their innovative software to tackle technical design struggles.

No matter how complex an engineering project, it always starts with a technical drawing. It is also where the challenges arise that EnginX solves. Saskia tells: “The first technical drawing is incredibly complex. It has to be absolutely right in terms of physics and mathematics. Because obviously, you don’t want to develop and deliver a hydrogen system and then discover it doesn’t work, or worse: it explodes. It’s a process with many mandatory checks and iterations and it’s very time-consuming. It is necessary to be meticulous, but we are sure we can improve the process.”

Design, populate and simulate

EnginX’s software allows engineers to make technical designs that are responsive. And instead of solely using industry icons and then searching for the right part, you can create drawings and populate them with real components. “It allows you to simulate and calculate directly from the drawing, making finding suitable components much quicker and easier. There is no search engine for a pump with a specific diameter and flow rate. So until now, engineers have had to call manufacturers and suppliers for details. Or they had to flip through paper catalogues and compare and convert metrics and compare data —an incredibly tedious and time-consuming process.”

Saskia first heard about EnginX through Mercator Launch. “I was immediately drawn to the technical challenge they were wanting to solve. I have never engineered myself, but having worked in manufacturing environments, I recognize the struggles. Especially when customers come up with additional requirements during a project, I could see engineers implode as they knew they had to recalculate every component in the whole system.”

In 2016, EnginX was established by three founders from different engineering backgrounds: aviation, the oil and gas industry and astrophysics. They all had one thing in common: they wanted to improve and modernize the outdated and time-consuming way of working in engineering. The first step was to update the design process itself.

“This resulted in a powerful product and the next step was to write a conclusive business plan”, explains Saskia. “Thomas Bronzwaer participated in two Mercator Launch IMPROVE programs to get the necessary support. And this is where we got to know each other. I joined EnginX not long after. After two years, the board asked me if I wanted to take over as CEO, allowing Thomas to focus fully on the technical side as CTO.”

Steps in growth

The product worked well, so the next step was figuring out how to market it. It takes more than showing off your self-written code to convince potential buyers. However, when pitching, EnginX noticed a growing interest in the product. “When I became CEO, I immediately started looking for financing instruments, such as the Startup Fonds Gelderland, OostNL and the Business Angels Network Nijmegen. We were able to join through Briskr. Having money at hand makes life a lot easier! We can start planning for the future.”

Twelve people now work at EnginX. “I wouldn’t call us a scale-up just yet, but we are getting there! Our growth has taken off. We are happy we can count on support from Mercator Launch, OostNL and Briskr for their network, knowledge and partners. The ecosystem these organizations have built up in Nijmegen and beyond is amazing.”

A household name

Having taken the first steps, EnginX can now look forward. “We want to be a household name for engineers. In fact, with our software, we could do even more to tackle early-phase engineering problems. From energy efficiency and 3D geometry to maintenance and project planning; we want to contribute to it all.”

The company focuses on storming the Dutch market. “We joined the Verenigde Maakindustrie Oost-Nederland (VMO), with 200 affiliated manufacturers in the east of the Netherlands and the GMV with affiliated manufacturers in the food production industry to both understand our market and be able to converse with potential users. And why look abroad for customers when there is still so much to solve in the Netherlands?” According to Saskia.

Tax opportunities for startups and scale-ups

Prepare for the future by setting up your company structure smartly! This way you can achieve tax benefits and be more flexible. Additionally, you can limit risks and seize opportunities.
We will address the following:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of different business structures?
How to gain and maintain control over complex issues with conflicting interests? A great tool for this is the Innovation Control Framework developed by BDO.
What if an investor approaches you, will they participate in the entire company or just a part of it? How does that work? And what is their role?
What if you need extra help, do you hire employees or work with freelancers?
And last but not least: what are the tax consequences of an exit and what is being sold or not sold?

During the workshop, Bernard de Vree, Sr. Manager Tax Advisor at BDO, will take you through these issues. There will also be room to ask your own questions.

Location
Noviotech Campus, Transistorweg 5, Nijmegen. Meet&Greet, buidling M.

Good to know
The workshop is facilitated in English. Participation in the workshop is free for everyone, including drinks and bites. However, for cancellations within 24 hours prior to the event, we will charge a fee of 15 euros (excluding VAT) to cover incurred expenses.

A few days before the event we will send an email from marion.schouten @briskr.nl with more detailed info on the workshop (you might need to check your spam box or add our email to your trusted contacts).

We look forward to meeting you!

Intellectual Property Walk-in session

This year we organise every month a walk-in for health and hightech companies.

Britta works as intellectual property (IP) advisor for the Netherlands Patent Office and is eager to help start-ups and SMEs with their questions on IP-rights in the broadest sense of the word. The Netherlands Patent Office is an official Dutch government body whose main goal is to stimulate innovation in the Netherlands. It does so by providing support and guidance to business owners, the services sector, scientists, researchers, teachers, and students. You can consult with Britta about any patent-related queries or other ways to protect your IP. The services provided are confidential, free-of-charge, and without commercial interest.

Contact Britta Helwig

You can just walk-in or make an appointment if you like:

britta.helwig@rvo.nl, +31 (0)6 27447365

POSTPONED; Step into a World of Safety & Contamination Control

Join us for a workshop hosted by Avantor, where you’ll learn important information about Safety and Contamination management. Unfortunately this workshop will be rescheduled.

Program:

13:00 hrs Registration and walk-in
13:30 hrs Start workshop with presentations
14:00 hrs 2 Rounds of workshops with practical actions
15:00 hrs Break
15:30 hrs Second part workshop with presentations
16:00 hrs 2 Rounds of workshops with practical actions
17:00 hrs End of workshop and networking drinks

Dupont

How to choose the Right Garment to Protect Wearers and Processes
Protective garments in Tyvek® and Tychem®

How to choose the right garment to safeguard both wearers and processes
Delve into different barrier materials and their unique performances, such as chemical resistance and linting
Explore and try on various protective garments to make more informed decisions when selecting the right garment for your needs

Speaker: Steve Marnach is the EMEA Training Manager and critical environments specialist for DuPont Personal Protection, the chemical protective & cleanroom garments business since 2003.

Brady
Optimizing Workplace Safety and Efficiency
Streamline Hazardous Substance Identification, Label Creation, and Sample Traceability

Ensuring safety in your workspace; Identifying hazardous substances (GHS/CLP)
Simplify your processes; Label creation with smartphone/tablet
Keeping track every step of the way enhancing sample traceability
Working with color, water-soluble labels, and RFID

Speaker: Fearghal Jones has been Territory Sales Manager at Brady Corporation since 2019. Fearghal primarily focuses on product identification solutions for laboratories. With Brady’s RFID technology, Fearghal has further expanded his expertise.

Veltek
Discuss the various aspects of a Proper Cleaning & Disinfection program
Important part of a full circle Contamination Control Strategy (CCS), as outlined in the latest release of Annex 1

Enhanced cleanliness and hygiene standards
Reduced risk of contamination and infection
Compliance with regulatory guidelines and standards

Improved safety for personnel and facilities

Speaker: Peter Koger has been active in the life science industry for over 40 years. For approximately 25 years, Peter has served as a technical resource to the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on environmental monitoring, cleaning & disinfection, gowning, and other aspects of contamination control.
Since 2002, he has been a frequent industry speaker, and since 2004, a faculty member and trainer with the PDA in Europe. Since 2005, Peter has been working for Veltek

Ansell
Discovering the Perfect Protective Gloves: Tailoring selection to your Safety requirements
Crucial due to the hazards associated with inadequate protection, which can lead to injuries, illnesses etc.

Understand the various standards related to the EN norm
Learn how to choose the right gloves for your specific requirements
Determine the level of chemical resistance and cut resistance in gloves
Get hands-on experience

Speaker Sander Nooij has been working at Ansell since 2009, where he is responsible for the LSCI sector within Ansell Benelux. Sander has 23 years of experience in the PPE sector.

Location
Noviotech Campus, Transistorweg 5, Building M, Meet&Greet, Nijmegen.

Good to know
The workshop is facilitated in English and is free of charge and organised together with Avantor.

This workshop will be rescheduled. The new date for this workshop will follow soon and registration will be re-opened.

Great news for MindAffect: aims to provide a new hearing diagnostics solution for hard-to-test patients

MindAffect, a Netherlands-based healthtech startup, has raised €1.1mn to bring its hearing diagnostics technology to market.

A spinout from Radboud University, MindAffect has developed a patented brain computer interface (BCI) technology, which enables diagnosis of hearing impairments using brain signals.

MindAffect aims to provide a more equitable testing solution that specifically caters for hard-to-test patients, such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Current methods, such as pure-tone or speech testing, depend on the constant responses of patients. But this can be challenging or ineffective for individuals who are unable to communicate due to age or disability — resulting in underdiagnosis.

Unaddressed hearing impairments can have serious consequences for both patients and the society, from mental health issues to high healthcare costs

“Hearing loss profoundly impacts every facet of life,” MindAffect’s CEO Jennifer Goodall said in a statement.

“For children, this means risks of poor educational and social development; for the elderly, increased isolation and a greater risk of early dementia; and the disabled, fewer opportunities for social inclusion.”

A new hearing diagnostics system

To tackle this issue, MindAffect has combined neuroscience, BCI technology, and AI to develop Aurora, a response-free hearing diagnostics system, which relies on brain stimuli and signals.

Aurora uses a headband that patients wear while listening to soft chirps and watching a silent video for less than 10 minutes. The system reads the brain signals and combines the information with air conduction and bone conduction audiometric threshold tests to make the diagnosis.

MindAffect expects to launch Aurora next year. The company is also working on vision diagnostics for children as well as a solution to monitor work-related stress in demanding visual or auditory environments.

Existing and new investors backed the funding round, including the NLC Health Impact Fund, Barco Limpo, and Wasteland Investments.

Source: Dutch startup to test hearing via brain-computer interface (thenextweb.com)

Webinar Understanding and effectively using the IVDR transition for successful CE marking

You are invited to our Free Webinar, EU-IVDR, two years on! Understanding and effectively using the IVDR transition for successful CE marking on May 28th, 2024.

On 26th May 2022, the IVDR came into force and has been active for two years. At the beginning of this year, the European Commission took further steps to ensure the availability of certain IVDs.

“What does the proposed extension to the IVDR transition mean for manufacturers? How can you adjust your strategy and utilize it to manage the transition time efficiently?”

In the past, I have said, “Don’t take your foot off the gas.” However, a further extension provides more time, so it’s now “Time to change gear.” During the presentation, we will pose the most important questions to ask yourself when revising your strategy and determining which gear to select.

This webinar aims to help you by sharing the following:

The current state of play
What is the extension to transitional arrangements and timelines?
How will this impact the conformity assessment process?
Revising your strategy
Opportunities and threats
How to benefit from the additional time?

The free webinar concludes with a Q&A session. You can submit questions via the registration form, mail them to marketing@qservegroup.com, or ask them during the webinar.

Expand your knowledge
When: 28 May 2024
Time: 17:00 – 18:00 PM CEST | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST | 8:00 – 9:00 AM PST

mRNA VACCINS

mRNA VACCINS nieuwe ontwikkelingen en toepassingen na covid

Heb je je ooit afgevraagd waarom er zo’n grote interesse is in zo’n klein stukje genetische code? Hoewel het concept van mRNA-vaccins teruggaat tot 1995, was het pas tijdens de pandemie dat mRNA-therapieën ons dagelijks leven binnendrongen en een revolutie teweegbrachten in de ontwikkeling van vaccins. mRNA-vaccins leren je lichaam zich te verdedigen door het natuurlijke infectieproces na te bootsen, zonder de risico’s van een daadwerkelijke infectie. Van kankertherapie tot gepersonaliseerde geneeskunde, mRNA biedt potentieel voor brede toepassing en het vakgebied ontwikkelt zich snel …

Op maandag 27 mei praten Gorben Pijlman (WUR) en Johannes Textor (RU) je bij over de wonderlijke wereld van mRNA-technologie. Gorben Pijlman leidt de Arbovirus onderzoeksgroep. Deze groep combineert fundamentele virologie en toegepaste vaccinontwikkeling, waarbij gebruik wordt gemaakt van levende muggen en pathogene virussen. Gorben zal je introduceren in het vakgebied van mRNA-vaccins en de nieuwe technologie van mRNAs die zichzelf vermenigvuldigen. De Computationele Immunologiegroep van Johannes Textor ontwerpt met behulp van machine learning kunstmatige immuunsystemen en onderzoekt hoe het immuunsysteem ‘abnormale’ informatie van ziekteverwekkers of tumoren waarneemt. Johannes zal uiteenzetten hoe op deze manier immuuntherapieën tegen kanker en nieuwe mRNA-vaccins worden ontwikkeld. Baanbrekende wetenschap, jazz van Trio In Dubio en de gebruikelijke gezelligheid – de laatste keer voor de zomer in het Science Café!

sprekers /20u Gorben Pijlman (Wageningen University & Research), Johannes Textor (Radboud Universiteit)

muziek /19u30 Trio In Dubio

moderator Ronald Kleiss

locatie The Shamrock, Smetiusstraat 17 te Nijmegen

entree gratis entree (vrije inloop)

voertaal Nederlands

info www.sciencecafenijmegen.nl

How to get more out of your team

Leading and managing a team is rewarding, complex, sometimes frustrating and amazing! Most entrepreneurs know more about their industry or craft than about getting the most out of the team that they work with. Yet fulfilling that role as a leader well is crucial to the success of your business, to your happiness at work and that of your employees.

Your employees are often the biggest expense in the business and the source of the most frustration. Investors also look criticially at your leadership and management skills to decide whether to keep you on as CEO as the company grows.

Whether you have issues with your team, or everything is fine in that area but you would like to keep it that way, this afternoon will be well spent as good staff are harder to find and keep..

In this workshop we will work on crafting our knowledge and skills on:

Your role as a leader
The difference between managing and leading
How to get and keep the right people for the right roles
How do you keep people on track and motivated in the short and long term
What to do when your staff don’t do things the way you want

Trainer Lizanne Jakobs:

Lizanne Jakobs is an award winning business coach and speaker and an entrepreneur herself. She is the founder of Brilliant Work, named best business coaching and consultancy firm 4 times over in the Netherlands for small to medium sized companies. Her workshops are always interactive, useful and engaging. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Master’s in International Business Communications, both from the Radboud University and is a DiSC accredited trainer. The team of coaches at Brilliant Work help clients grow and professionalise their companies. Most of these coaching engagements are aided by one of 16 different subsidies they are accredited for. There will be plenty of time for your questions and examples that you would like advice on.

Don’t miss out! Join us on June 13!

Location: Meet&Greet in Building M, Noviotech Campus Nijmegen. Transistorweg 5.

Good to know
The workshop is facilitated in English. Participation in the workshop is free for everyone, including drinks and bites. However, for no-show and cancellations within 24 hours prior to the event, we will charge a fee of 15 euros (excluding VAT) to cover expenses.

A few days before the event we will send an email from marion.schouten@briskr.nl with more detailed info on the workshop (you might need to check your spam box or add our email to your trusted contacts).

Look back: The value of diagnostics in Urology: Beyond diagnostic accuracy

Diagnostic accuracy is at the basis of determining the value of a diagnostic test. However, the value of a test depends on many factors such as the exact population and the workflow of the hospital in which it is used. These factors differ between contexts in which the test is used.

Look back this webinar “The value of diagnostics in Urology: Beyond diagnostic accuracy”. In this webinar, Medip Analytics will discuss the latest views on value assessments in diagnostics with a focus on cost-effectiveness analyses. You can find the recording on the website of Medip Analytics.

Speakers: Tim Govers, PhD & Maarten de Rooij, MD PhD

Meet&Greet: organise your own event

For creating activity and new business, meetings between professionals with different expertise and know-how are essential. Organising Meet&Greet meetings aimed at knowledge networking, match-making and knowledge transfer give a boost to innovation in Health and High-tech. Meetings between researchers, entrepreneurs and investors lead to new connections, new ideas, new cooperation and new business.

Briskr is happy to be your partner in organising your event. On the innovative Noviotech Campus, we have a flexible meeting room for meetings from 30 to 200 people. There are also three smaller rooms available for meetings or, for example, training sessions and courses.

For more information, possibilities, quotations and rates, please contact Marieke Snieder, telephone 06 – 46 85 12 78, e-mail marieke.snieder@briskr.nl.

Click here for an impression of the Meet&Greet and specifications.