Thursday, June 16, 2016

Bosch Fosters Innovation, Supports Startups in Steel City

As a world-leading supplier of technologies and services, Bosch is utilizing its breadth of knowledge and global resources to support the startup community.

One of the ways it does this is through its sponsorship of AlphaLab Gear’s National Hardware Cup competition. With this sponsorship, Bosch seeks to advance the speed of technological innovation, while encouraging the enthusiasm for innovative success among its associates. AlphaLab Gear presented the $50,000 grand prize investment from venture capital firm Startbot to the creators of the winning product, Lucid Cam, which is the world’s first 3D consumer camera for virtual reality. The announcement took place on May 11 in Pittsburgh – a city in which Bosch has demonstrated its innovative capabilities.

Not only was Bosch a major sponsor of the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup, but the company provided hands-on mentoring to many of its applicants within the city of Pittsburgh. Through its partnerships with incubators such as AlphaLab Gear, and its work with the Carnegie Bosch Institute (CBI), Bosch has not only acted as a mentor to many startups, but has adopted the “startup mentality” into its own corporate culture.

“Connecting with startups is an important way for us to continue to drive the entrepreneurial spirit that was instilled by our founder Robert Bosch,” said Mike Mansuetti, president, Robert Bosch LLC. “Bosch realizes not only the value that it can bring to these startups, but that the company itself can learn from these small, nimble product technology creators.”

Bosch in Pittsburgh

In addition to leveraging the startup culture and community, Bosch founded CBI, which is housed inside Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. There, Bosch associates work as mentors to business school students, tapping into years of product innovation and technology knowledge from experienced Bosch leaders and executives.

Pittsburgh has transformed and rebranded itself into a manufacturing and engineering hub, with successful startup stories such as Akustica. Pittsburgh-based Akustica Inc., founded in 2001 to commercialize acoustic MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology licensed from Carnegie Mellon University, was acquired by Bosch in 2009. Bosch is the world’s leading supplier of MEMS sensors, and the addition of digital and analog microphones rounded out its consumer MEMS portfolio.

This summer, Bosch will open the doors of its new 51,667-square-foot technology center in Pittsburgh, reinforcing the company’s commitment to the area and doubling its footprint in the region. The development of this center was driven by the need to accommodate growth of the company’s business units, including Bosch’s subsidiary Akustica and Bosch’s Research and Technology Center in Pittsburgh.

The culmination of these strategic partnerships and investments have allowed Bosch to create a culture of innovation and transformation, from both inside-out and outside-in.

AlphaLab Gear’s Hardware Cup is a four-month-long contest that searched nine cities for physical or hardware-related products, and selected finalists in each. Winners from those cities include: PALPAID (Pittsburgh); Printless Plans (Washington D.C.); OXX (Ann Arbor, Michigan); Water Hero (Boston); Dog Parker (New York City); Rufus Labs (Los Angeles); Lucid Cam (San Jose, California); EllieGrid (Austin); Mohop (Chicago); and BotFactory (audience-voted winner from New York City). Read more»