By connecting wind turbines to IoT, a TUM spin-out turned platform IP into a portfolio for investors to acquire and operate, reports an EPO case study

An early exploration by five entrepreneurial postgraduates into the potential for adopting optical sensors as a platform technology for industries such as rail, space and medical led to the creation of a more tightly focused spin-out, fos4X, in 2012.

One of the advantages of operating under the umbrella of a university such as the Technical University of Munich is that it has the reach to generate early feedback about where demand really lies. In a response to a press release about the progress of their work, some of Germany’s leading industrial players identified wind turbines as the most pressing challenge that optical sensors could solve.