Electronics For Positive Impact

Join the “Electronics For Positive Impact” Startup Challenge and bring your electronic solution from prototype to market – together with Würth Elektronik.

Climate change, scarcity of resources, loss of biodiversity, rising energy demand, food security, water scarcity, better medical care for a growing global population: the world faces major challenges. At the same time, new technological solutions are emerging worldwide that address exactly these issues – bold, intelligent and with real impact potential.

With the “Electronics For Positive Impact” Startup Challenge, Würth Elektronik and the Innovation World Cup® set out to make these innovations visible and to advance them in a targeted way. The focus is on startups that want to make a positive contribution to people, the environment and the future with electronic solutions – connected with technical expertise, industry access and relevant networks.

Because good ideas need more than attention. They need the right partners to reach the application faster, more robustly and more successfully.

Topics covered by the Electronics For Positive Impact Startup Challenge:

• Biodiversity & Green Planet
• Food & Agritech
• Medical & Longevity
• Edge AI

Why take part? An industry partnership with concrete added value for startups

The challenge addresses three central challenges faced by startups: speed to market, visibility among investors and technical depth. Würth Elektronik offers concrete support for each of them:

Global visibility & network

• Stage presence, access to investors and relevant networks
• Communication support through the channels of Würth Elektronik
• Access to selected events, e.g. the DLD Salon or other investor events
• The opportunity of an accelerator membership

Technology & development excellence

• Technical consulting, FAE hours and workshops
• High-quality hardware
• Product optimization and accelerated support from prototype to series production
• Support from Design & Solution as well as extended component support
• Access to the Würth Elektronik ecosystem: GRINN board, wireless communication, power management modules, development kits as well as electronic and electromechanical components

Testing, validation & compliance

• Access to EMC pre-compliance, environmental laboratory and compliance information

Eligibility

The challenge is aimed at startups with a validated business idea and a functioning prototype. What counts is technological quality, scalability and the positive impact of the solution. Pure ideas or research projects without a clear commercialization approach are not in focus.

Objective and process

The aim is to support startups in bringing technological solutions for central future challenges into application. Ideally, the solution should combine aspects such as sensor integration, edge AI processing and connectivity. The challenge demonstrates how innovative electronics can create measurable added value for product, application and market.

Evaluation criteria

• Positive impact and relevance of the problem addressed
• Level of innovation and technological differentiation
• Technical feasibility and progress in validation
• Scalability and market potential
• Quality of collaboration with the Würth Elektronik ecosystem
• Measurable development progress during the challenge

Technology and components provided

Startups can draw on the Würth Elektronik ecosystem – for example the GRINN board, wireless communication, power management modules, development kits as well as electronic and electromechanical components – to realize their solutions quickly and efficiently.