Bosch fosters innovation, supports startups in Steel City

May 16, 2016 | By Business Wire News

PITTSBURGH

As a world-leading supplier of technologies and services, Bosch is utilizing its breadth of knowledge and global resources to support the startup community.

One of the ways it does this is through its sponsorship of AlphaLab Gear’s National Hardware Cup competition. With this sponsorship, Bosch seeks to advance the speed of technological innovation, while encouraging the enthusiasm for innovative success among its associates. AlphaLab Gear presented the $50,000 grand prize investment from venture capital firm Startbot to the creators of the winning product, Lucid Cam, which is the world’s first 3D consumer camera for virtual reality. The announcement took place on May 11 in Pittsburgh – a city in which Bosch has demonstrated its innovative capabilities.

Not only was Bosch a major sponsor of the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup, but the company provided hands-on mentoring to many of its applicants within the city of Pittsburgh. Through its partnerships with incubators such as AlphaLab Gear, and its work with the Carnegie Bosch Institute (CBI), Bosch has not only acted as a mentor to many startups, but has adopted the “startup mentality” into its own corporate culture.

“Connecting with startups is an important way for us to continue to drive the entrepreneurial spirit that was instilled by our founder Robert Bosch,” said Mike Mansuetti, president, Robert Bosch LLC. “Bosch realizes not only the value that it can bring to these startups, but that the company itself can learn from these small, nimble product technology creators.”

Bosch in Pittsburgh

In addition to leveraging the startup culture and community, Bosch founded CBI, which is housed inside Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. There, Bosch associates work as mentors to business school students, tapping into years of product innovation and technology knowledge from experienced Bosch leaders and executives.

Pittsburgh has transformed and rebranded itself into a manufacturing and engineering hub, with successful startup stories such as Akustica. Pittsburgh-based Akustica Inc., founded in 2001 to commercialize acoustic MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) technology licensed from Carnegie Mellon University, was acquired by Bosch in 2009. Bosch is the world’s leading supplier of MEMS sensors, and the addition of digital and analog microphones rounded out its consumer MEMS portfolio.

This summer, Bosch will open the doors of its new 51,667-square-foot technology center in Pittsburgh, reinforcing the company’s commitment to the area and doubling its footprint in the region. The development of this center was driven by the need to accommodate growth of the company’s business units, including Bosch’s subsidiary Akustica and Bosch’s Research and Technology Center in Pittsburgh.

The culmination of these strategic partnerships and investments have allowed Bosch to create a culture of innovation and transformation, from both inside-out and outside-in.

AlphaLab Gear’s Hardware Cup is a four-month-long contest that searched nine cities for physical or hardware-related products, and selected finalists in each. Winners from those cities include: PALPAID (Pittsburgh); Printless Plans (Washington D.C.); OXX (Ann Arbor, Michigan); Water Hero (Boston); Dog Parker (New York City); Rufus Labs (Los Angeles); Lucid Cam (San Jose, California); EllieGrid (Austin); Mohop (Chicago); and BotFactory (audience-voted winner from New York City). For more information about AlphaLab Gear, visit http://alphalabgear.org/.

For more information about Carnegie Bosch Institute, visit http://tepper.cmu.edu/our-faculty-and-research/centers/carnegie-bosch-institute.

About Bosch

Having established a regional presence in 1906 in North America, the Bosch Group employs some 28,700 associates in more than 100 locations, as of April 1, 2015. In 2014, Bosch generated consolidated sales of $11.3 billion in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. For more information, visit www.boschusa.com, www.bosch.com.mx and www.bosch.ca.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 375,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2015). The company generated sales of $78.3 billion (70.6 billion euros) in 2015. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiaries and regional companies in some 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing and sales network covers some 150 countries. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. Bosch employs 55,800 associates in research and development at 118 locations across the globe. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.”

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com and twitter.com/BoschPresse.

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