Manufacturing intelligence Digital 3D touch sensor wins Hexagon’s start-up challenges

The global digital reality solutions company Hexagon, has announced the winner of the second cohort of its coveted Sixth Sense open innovation platform, which nurtures start-ups creating solutions to pressing manufacturing challenges. The winner impressed the jury with their innovative inspection technology.

Hexagon launched the Sixth Sense open innovation platform in 2022 to support the growing demand for disruptive innovation in manufacturing. Gel-Sight won the competition, following an intense ten-week programme of product refinement and business development, which culminated in a pitching competition at the Hague, the Netherlands, where they presented their company and progress to a panel of judges representing experts in technology, investment and Hexagon leadership. As part of their winning package, they will receive access to Hexagon’s customer base to expand their business, integrate with Hexagon products and further resources to globalise.

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Youssef Benmokhtar, CEO of Gel-Sight, said: “Many inspections in the industry today are still performed by an inspector simply looking at or touching a part to identify, and sometimes measure, a defect. This is a subjective, non-repeatable, non-traceable process. Our gel material acts as artificial skin, providing extremely detailed and rapid surface characterisation. We have digitised the entire workflow — our technology analyses the readings to give users detailed 3D visualisation with up to 5 million data points that can help automate processes, cutting costs and time.”

Runner-up Castor’s Angeliki Malizou, Director of Business Development, said: “Participating in the Sixth Sense cohort has provided us with an exceptional opportunity to take our business to new heights. Our intelligent software analyses thousands of parts at once and identifies opportunities where additive manufacturing makes sense, from a technical, economical, and sustainable point of view. Whether a company's initiatives are cost reduction, sustainability, supply chain resilience, or others, we can help engineers to scale up their additive manufacturing journey, and we look forward to furthering that journey with Hexagon.”

Parth Joshi, Chief Product and Technology Officer for Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, said: “The market is in a state of flux. The industry is trying to contend with a shrinking global economy, sustainability requirements and increasingly complex customer demands, which are all piling on the pressure. To us, however, this presents an opportunity. Constraints provide fertile ground for innovation, and start-ups know that better than anyone. In fact, the industry as a whole can benefit from the creativity and agility they bring to the innovation process, as demonstrated by the success of our cohorts. We are excited to continue working together with budding companies and will be recruiting for the next cohort soon.”

Hexagon would also like to congratulate the rest of the cohort for their impressive pitches and dedication to growth during the programme. These innovative start-ups are: 3Yourmind, Augmentir, JIT base, Oculavis, Threedy and Teratonics.

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