AkzoNobel awarded three startups who presented innovative solutions for the paint and coatings industry with the Paint the Future award.
Paint the Future global startup challenge is an AkzoNobel initiative aimed to connect startups with industry knowledge and experience to help accelerate their solutions in the paint and coatings industry. Paint the Future's second global startup challenge was launched on May 18, 2021 and drew 245 entries from 62 countries. Ten finalists were invited to Amsterdam to participate in an intense three-day bootcamp program. Here the three winning startups were selected by an international jury. The winners are:
- SolCold from Israel who proposed “Sustainable self-cooling coating based on anti-Stokes”;
- Aerones from Latvia who presented “Robotics for wind turbine maintenance”;
- SprayVision from the Czech Republic with the solution “Data-driven approach to optimal spray application of paint”.
“Collaborative innovation is truly transforming the paints and coatings industry,” says Klaas Kruithof, AkzoNobel’s Chief Technology Officer and Chair of the Paint the Future jury. “I’m looking forward to mixing the skills of these passionate entrepreneurs with our knowledge of paints and coatings. Together, we will bring our customers new solutions that go beyond imagination.”
This is AkzoNobel’s second global startup challenge, following its industry-first predecessor in 2019. Regional startup challenges have since taken place in Brazil (2020), China (2021) and most recently India (2022).