Five friends established a company in Berlin in spring 2021. They want to support German SMEs in building up their business in a data-driven way. Developing new business models and working more efficiently, that's why it's also worthwhile for SMEs to examine the opportunities offered by data science and artificial intelligence. For the company name, the four men and one woman combine the words algorithm and nautical, because they want to give their customers "orientation in a sea of data", as co-founder Dominik Galm puts it—a beautiful image. They met while studying in Freiburg and Berlin. When the five of them realised that they had a joint enterprise in mind, they met every Wednesday for weeks to compare their ideas. Because there's one thing they don't want to do: jeopardise their friendship in any way.

Bridging the gap between research and practice

Finally, a potential client comes into play through private contacts. This is how the first project emerges from the deliberations, which is still being worked on along the way. It succeeds. The friends realise that they work well together—the founding of the company becomes a reality.

Algonaut's offer can be simplified into three steps. In the first step, a data infrastructure is built, in the second step, the data is understood, and knowledge is generated from it; and in the third step, the evaluation can be further optimised using artificial intelligence. "A business case must be found in any case, because the project has to be worthwhile for the companies," Galm explains a central task for the development of Algonaut. "Today, companies often have only a vague idea of what statistics and artificial intelligence can do. We want to bridge the gap between the excellent research in Germany and what small and medium-sized enterprises in particular can make use of." The first project came from the logistics sector, but the founders also see great opportunities for the start-up in the health sector. To develop further, active networking and support from outside are central,” Galm emphasises.

Crucial advice from the Enterprise Europe Network

"I wouldn't have believed how strong the willingness to help from other companies has been and how crucial the support from business development agencies can be," is how Galm describes his start-up experience in Berlin. A start-up with a similar offer drew their attention to Berlin Partner for Business and Technology. Algonaut applied for a membership in the business network, became a "Berlin Partner" with favourable start-up conditions and has since been using the network very actively and successfully. The district's economic development agency, also based at Berlin Partner, actively approached the young company, and subsequently arranged the important contact to the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) in the field of health. The EEN explains the opportunities in the European area and points them to the competitions that "EIT Health" announces.  Algonaut then takes part in the call "Start- up meets Healthcare Provider" and applies for a cooperation with the large Spanish healthcare provider Sanitas. After several intensive selection rounds and against strong competition, the Berliners win the project.

Enabling individual health counselling

"Insured persons can already transfer health data generated via smart watches and other wearables to an app at Sanitas. The data is then used by doctors for individual health care," is how co-founder Maximilian Kricke describes the context. Sanitas now wants more customers to use the service. But for this to happen, the data must be analysed more efficiently and provided more intelligently so that the effort remains manageable. This is exactly the task being worked on at Algonaut. "We want to show practitioners only the deviations from the norm and only the data they need to understand and improve the patient situation. We are talking to many Sanitas doctors about this. They are enthusiastic about the project, which motivates us a lot," says Kricke. His vision for Algonaut: "Through our services, we gain access to companies, which we then accompany on their journey into a data-driven future."

Are the five friends still friends? Yes, convincingly assure Galm and Kricke. The journey will continue! The Enterprise Europe Network made the cooperation with Sanitas possible through its crucial advice. This shows how important it can be, especially for young companies, to get in touch with the EEN and get advice. It opens up the breadth of the European horizon.