The WSC Demo Day took place at O-Werk in Bochum and allowed ten start-up teams to pitch their solutions, successes, and visions for the future. The five best teams were recognized with an extensive support package, including, e.g., trips to domestic and international trade fairs and conferences or nominations for funding and competitions.
The young start-up HoLa - founded by former RESOLV and FP-RESOMUS postdoc Dr. Celia Millon and her colleagues Dr. Yicheng Wang, Dr. Denizhan Koray Kesim and Marc Leineweber - is developing a completely new generation of lasers that emit at a previously unachieved wavelength of 2.1 µm. The team emerges from the chair of Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science (PULS) led by RESOLV member Prof. Clara Saraceno. The start-up is developing a new generation of THz sources for solvation spectroscopy. Lasers emitting in the 2 µm range are ideally suited as excitation sources because the wavelength scales with the THz energy. In addition to applications in spectroscopy, the laser also exhibits properties of interest for silicon processing, enabling the project to tap into the semiconductor industry alongside scientific fields.
The start-up has applied for EXIST funding and is being supported by the RUB WSC and Start4Chem. With the team winning the first prize during the pitch battle at the WSC Demo Day 2023, a promising journey is starting.