Eskitec

A portrait in video format can be found at the end

From the initial idea in spring 2019 until now, a lot of work has gone into the research and development of their technology. Today, founders Dr. Michael-Christian Schmidt and Dr. Hamidreza Ahmadian are close to the actual spin-off of their start-up "ESKITEC" and the launch of their product. The company, currently based at the Siegen Summit, aims to achieve the highest level of security in the application of AI systems. "We can ensure the execution times of an AI."

How did you come up with the idea for "ESKITEC"?

The idea for our technology originated at the Chair for Embedded Systems at the University of Siegen, where Hamid and I work as scientists. After my PhD, I actually always wanted to return to the business world. With the funding of our project idea through the EXIST Research Transfer Program of the BMWK, there is now nothing standing in the way of this step. The aim of this research transfer is to bring interesting results from research such as our technology into the business world.

What is behind the idea of "ESKITEC"?

We are developing a technology that will later enable our customers to execute AI safely. I'll explain it best with an example. For autonomous driving, various AI systems are used. One of them, for example, has the function of recognizing pedestrians. Now the AI ​​has to decide within a certain time whether the vehicle needs to brake or can continue driving. With our technology, we ensure that this decision can always be made in time. Furthermore, we ensure that the various AI systems do not interfere with each other and each has enough time for its calculations.

At the moment, we are working with so-called FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). These are computer chips that can be reconfigured via software. This chip will be installed in the computer later, for example, and will safely execute your AI. That's what we're doing in the short term, but in the long run, we want to license the technology to chip manufacturers. Currently, we are looking for a strategic investor who is interested in integrating our technology into their hardware.

In which areas can your technology be used?

The most prominent example is probably the one mentioned with the autonomous driving car. But even smartphones now have special AI accelerators integrated. So the topic of AI is becoming more and more relevant in everyday life. We are certainly also very interested in the industry and automation sector, where there are time-critical processes with AI. But AI is also now being used in safety-critical infrastructures. Here we also see great potential for our technology.

What is innovative about your company?

There are already other technologies that make AI safer, but they pursue different approaches. Above all, they are not as flexible as our innovation, so I believe we have a very good chance of establishing ourselves in the market.

What appeals to you about entrepreneurship?

I am attracted to the freedom of design. ESKITEC was a unique opportunity for me to do something of my own, where you have the opportunity to implement your own idea.

What was the biggest challenge in starting up?

Actually, the coronavirus pandemic was the biggest challenge for us. We naturally develop our technology as a team, and a big challenge was to create all the structures and shared accesses for our development hardware. Also, a former co-founder left the team for personal reasons and we had to find someone new for our team.

Who are your (financial) supporters?

We are funded by the EXIST Research Transfer Program. We are at the end of the first founding phase and were able to successfully convince the jury again, so we also received approval for the second founding phase. We also participated in various startup competitions and were able to successfully complete the pitches here as well, such as the accelerator program "One Small Step - Boost" by Startpunkt57.

How did the University of Siegen's Entrepreneurship Office support you in starting up?

We received special support right from the start through coaching from the Entrepreneurship Office and benefited from their extensive contacts.

What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?

It is important to network. One should also not hesitate to ask the people in the network for help. In addition, the Hightech Gründerfond offers a video blog series (HTGF Founders Classes), in which you can watch various aspects of entrepreneurship for free on YouTube. I find that very helpful and interesting.

This portrait is based on an interview with Dr. Michael-Christian Schmidt in March 2022 and was written by Janice Gust.

Here to the start-up's homepage.