Young nuggets from Wallonia-Brussels represented at the unmissable SXSW Festival in the USA

Young entrepreneurs and students attended the SXSW Festival, the world's benchmark for innovation, ICC and networking. They were all winners of the StarTech competition and travelled to Austin with an entire Walloon delegation. This was a huge opportunity for them.

StarTech is an incubator for engineering students, created by WSL, Europe's leading technology incubator, and Wallonie Entreprendre. In October 2023, four students won the competition with their Peach project. They were part of the Walloon delegation in Austin, thanks to the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency and WBI.

Behind Peach are Lucie Mathues Bilginer (Master's Level 1 Biomedical Engineering student), Clément Vermeylen (Master's Level 1 Computer Engineering student), Maria Farcas (Master's Level 1 Chemical Engineering student) and Melissa Kaci (Master's Level 1 Electrical Engineering student). Their adventure began in March 2023, as part of a start-up course at the University of Liège. Their university project quickly became a passion... and soon an entrepreneurial project. In May, they won the ULiège StarTech competition, then the general competition in October which brought together several colleges. They have been at the VentureLab incubator since July 2023.

But what is Peach? "A project to help women suffering from period pain," says Lucie. We are developing a heating belt that can be taken everywhere and not seen under clothing, so it can be worn at any time of day to relieve pain.

The students, who are delighted to develop this project in line with their feminist values, did not expect to win the overall competition. "The fact that we won motivates us to go even further, to give it our best," confides Maria. And these few days in Austin with the Walloon delegation provided even more encouragement. "It was really rewarding," confides Lucie. We met lots of people who shared their experiences with us. We had a meeting with the previous winner, a Belgian who has lived here for 25 years and who told us his success story. It was really inspiring." "He told us to contact him if we launched because his wife owns a wellness centre. It's motivating to see that our project is reaching people, even here," adds Clément. "The field of possibilities is immense, and we need to exploit it," says Maria.

So far, the four students have developed a first "home-made" prototype of their heating belt. "We applied for a grant and the money will enable us to perfect this prototype, test it with women to get their feedback and refine our product so we can market it." Proud to be there and very grateful, the four friends and colleagues have taken nothing but positives from the experience. On 8 April, at the VentureLab Entrepreneur Summit, Peach was again awarded the Defenso Road to Business Prize.

Entering the US market

The sentiment is shared by Pierre Jenchenne and Antoine Malherbe, who have also won the StarTech competition in the past with their Get Your Way project. "We are democratising assisted reality," explains Antoine Malherbe, co-founder of Get Your Way and CTO. We have created connected glasses called aRdent, which you put under your eyes to receive information while working." "Our aim is to develop a tool that gives operators a new way of working, to help them be more productive, and improve their working conditions for greater efficiency, safety and comfort."

For the past year and a half, Pierre, Antoine and their partner Nicolas Dessambre have been working full-time on this project. After a first mission with the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency two years ago, they are back in the USA to connect with other people, carry out technology watch and find partners who could help them set up here, once their product is ready for the American market. "We now know how we are going to get into this market. And above all, we can see that technology in Austin is evolving rapidly," says Pierre. It really is the place to be to make a global impact with your technology."

Another important element for the Get Your Way co-founders is the relationship they have created with the Walloon delegation and the wake! label. "We are forging very strong links with an ecosystem we need to be close to, and with which we really are now. It's great," says Antoine. The entrepreneur has returned to Belgium in a very positive frame of mind, "and above all very excited to have our new version of the product". "From the feedback we received here, we can see that everyone approves of our approach, both in Belgium and internationally. We can't wait until our product is ready, we can sell it and it can help new people."

Source: Kingkong Mag