New partner for Stuttgart network

Startup Autobahn was able to win over the Schaeffler Group as a new company for its own platform. The company wants to use the network to find startups in the future to work together on pilot projects

Supplier Schaeffler becomes a new anchor partner in the Startup Autobahn network. Since 2016, Startup Autobahn has connected established companies with startups in order to jointly advance pilot projects to market maturity in the best case scenario. Currently, the Stuttgart-based network comprises 30 partners and 30,000 startups.

Experts from the company choose who Schaeffler works with. Together with the start-ups, they then initially want to develop pilot projects. Schaeffler has various innovation clusters along the themes of "Hydrogen & Energy Transition", "Electric & Automated Mobility", "Robotics & IoT", "Bearing Technologies", "Material & Surface Science" and "Artificial Intelligence."

"We are delighted to welcome Schaeffler as the latest anchor partner on our platform," says Sascha Karimpour, co-initiator of Startup Autobahn. He expects Schaeffler's expertise and "diverse product and system portfolio" to be profitable for the startups.

Schaeffler is also excited about the opportunity, saying, "Startup Autobahn is a perfect fit for Schaeffler and an important milestone in our innovation strategy. Through strategic cooperation with startups, we can identify growth markets, further develop our core business together with strong partners, and offer innovative, sustainable technologies for the future," says Uwe Wagner, Schaeffler's Executive Vice President Research and Development.