Pulse, Madglove and VU-AMS won the DLAB’s Summer Pitch Event

Demonstrator Lab was celebrating their successes with the Demonstrator Lab’s Summer Pitch Event on June 22nd. Out of a total of 21 pre-finalists, 6 projects made it to pitch their idea to an expert jury in the finals. Madglove, Pulse and VU-AMS won the competition and were each awarded EUR 1.000 vouchers to be spent on their project.

The jury was impressed by the quality of the pitches. “This event proves that we are on the right track.’ says Davide Iannuzzi, Chief Impact Officer VU Amsterdam. ‘We have seen 6 excellent pitches, delivered by enthusiastic members of our community who have had the opportunity to use the facilities and support offered by Demonstrator Lab to develop prototypes and put those prototypes in the hands of the first users.”

About the winners

Madglove
Madglove designed a smart, easy to use glove to help people with spasticity to overcome difficulties to use their hands. The jury: “MadGlove is the perfect example of how a student project incubating at Demonstrator Lab can become a serious business with strong societal impact. At Demonstrator Lab, the team went from idea to working prototype and first contact with users, which is exactly what Demonstrator Lab is meant to do. The jury looks forward to seeing this exceptional team scaling their company”.

Pulse
Assigning the award to Pulse, the jury wanted to celebrate what was considered as the best pitch of the day. Pulse makes hardware and software for comprehensive health and performance monitoring to help athletes achieve their maximum potential. The team seems to be on the right path, with a great prototype, a solid plan and team, getting traction with renown sport clubs, and a lot of energy: all ingredients that will help them reach the next phase.

VU-AMS
The VU University Ambulatory Monitoring System (VU-AMS) is a wearable stress monitoring device to study stress and emotion in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. The jury: “VU-AMS is an excellent example of knowledge transfer. The device that the team has already gone through multiple prototyping phases as well as contact with paying customers, showing great traction and enormous potential. The jury was impressed by the results obtained and, with this award, wanted to encourage the team to look for the best route to maximize their impact.’

Demonstrator Lab and their projects
The Demonstrator Lab is the academic pre-commercial incubator facility of VU Amsterdam and UvA. This academic year, the Demonstrator Lab has welcomed 35 new projects of students and staff. 4 projects have taken the leap to incorporate their start-up at the Chamber of Commerce, and still 51 projects are currently working on demonstrating the potential of their entrepreneurial idea. Davide Iannuzzi: “VU Amsterdam is very proud of the results achieved by Linda van de Burgwal and her team, who did an exceptional job despite the aftermath of COVID.”

Photo by Caren Huygelen