From students to entrepreneurs, the young talents represented at SXSW
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A Walloon delegation attended SXSW between March 7 and 14. Amongst it, young entrepreneurs and students who had all won the StarTech competition. Being in Austin with a whole delegation was an enormous opportunity for them.
StarTech is an incubator for engineering students created by WSL, the first technology incubator in Europe, 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 Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX) and Wallonie Bruxelles International (WBI).
Behind the development of Peach are Lucie Mathues Bilginer (a student in the Master’s first year in Biomedical Engineering), Clément Vermeylen (a student in the Master’s first year in Computer Engineering), Maria Farcas (a student in the Master’s first year in Chemical Engineering) and Melissa Kaci (a student in the Master’s first year in Electrical Engineering). Their adventure began in March 2023, within a startup course given at the University of Liège. A university project which rapidly became a passion, and soon maybe an entrepreneurial project? In May, they won the ULiège section of the StarTech competition, and then the general competition in October, bringing together several schools. Since July 2023, they have been incubated at VentureLab. But what exactly is Peach? ‘A project which aims to help women suffering from menstrual pain,’ Lucie informs us. ‘We have developed a heating belt which can be taken anywhere, and which cannot be seen under clothing, so that it can be worn at any time of the day to ease the pain.’
The students, happy to develop this project in line with their feminist values, were not expecting to win the general competition. ‘The fact that we have won motivates us to go further still, to give the best of ourselves,’ Maria tells us. And these few days in Austin with the Walloon delegation is encouraging them even more. ‘It’s massively rewarding,’ Lucie says. ‘We are meeting lots of people who are sharing their experiences with us. We had a meeting with the previous winners, with a Belgian who has settled here 25 years ago, who told us his success story. It’s hugely inspiring.’ ‘He told us we should contact him if ever we launch because his partner owns a wellness centre. It motivates you to see that even here our project is reaching out to people,’ adds Clément. ‘The range of possibilities is immense and we have to make the best use of it,’ smiles Maria.
For the moment, the four students have developed an initial ‘in-house’ prototype of their heating belt. ‘We applied for a grant and that money will allow us to improve on this prototype, to get it tested by women to see what their opinions are, and hone our product in order to place it on the market.’ Proud and very grateful to be there, the four friends and partners have only positive things to say about the experience.
Entering the United States market
A sentiment 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 making assisted reality more accessible,’ explains Antoine Malherbe, cofounder of Get Your Way and also its CTO. ‘We have created smart glasses which you place over your eyes to access information whilst you are working.’ ‘Our mission is to develop a tool which will allow operatives to implement a new way of working, to help them become more productive, to enhance their working conditions and bring about improved efficiency, improved safety and improved comfort.’
Pierre, Antoine and their partner Nicolas Dessambre have been working on this project full-time for a year-and-a-half. After attending the event for the first time with AWEX two years ago, they are returning to the United States to link up with other people, monitor new technology and find partners who could help them to establish themselves here, once their product is ready for the American market. ‘Today we know how we will be able to enter this market. And you can see, especially in Austin, that technology is developing rapidly,’ affirms Pierre. ‘It’s really a place where we need to be onsite if we want to have a global impact with our technology.’
Another important aspect for the co-founders of Get Your Way, the relationships 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 which we really are now. It’s fantastic,’ Antoine assures us. The entrepreneur is returning to Belgium in a very positive mood, ‘and above all very excited to get the new version of our product.’ ‘The feedback we have been getting here, you can see that everybody is confirming our approach, in Belgium as well as internationally. We are eager for our product to be ready, for us to be able to sell it and that it can help new people.’
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