“The start-up environment in the Ruhr is excellent”

Alexander Igelmann: The idea originated at the Department of Laser Application Technology at Ruhr University Bochum. My three co-founders, Alexander Kanitz, Jan Hoppius and Jannis Köhler, all completed their PhDs there whilst conducting research into laser processing technology in liquids. Together, they carried out the first cuts on materials.

The WORLDFACTORY at Ruhr University Bochum was a great help, as were the networks at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, my alma mater, and at RWTH Aachen University, which we got to know through the RWTH Innovation Programme.

The start-up scene in the Ruhr region, and in Bochum in particular, is excellent!

Bochum is ideally situated in the heart of the Ruhr region, one of Europe’s largest industrial and technology hubs. Thanks to its central location, it boasts excellent links to suppliers, international airports such as Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn, and major logistics providers. At the same time, Bochum lies exactly halfway between the already established semiconductor clusters centred on Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Dresden in Germany. Both regions can be reached within a few hours’ drive.

More than ten million people live within a 60-minute drive. This means that Lidrotec has access to a potential workforce of over ten million people, without them necessarily having to relocate to work for us. This alone is a clear unique selling point of the location.

Within a 60-kilometre radius of Bochum, a total of around 160,000 people are studying. This means the region boasts one of the largest pools of future talent in the European Economic Area. At Ruhr University Bochum alone, more than 37,000 students are currently enrolled.

The Department of Laser Application Technology (LAT) at Ruhr University Bochum, where three of our founders previously studied, plays a particularly important role for us. It is one of the leading chairs in Germany in the field of applied laser technology. This gives us direct access to a particularly relevant talent pool, for example for the role of laser process engineers.

To sum up, Bochum offers exceptionally favourable conditions for a high-tech company in the semiconductor industry. The combination of a central location, efficient infrastructure, the availability of a skilled workforce and a very large future talent pool makes the location unique.

Our product is primarily aimed at the semiconductor industry. The machine cuts microchips. In the medium term, however, other sectors are also attractive, such as the medical sector or the aerospace industry, as our technology is capable of cutting a wide variety of materials with precision.