HDI: Secure Data Transfer in Cloud Computing Wins Over Data Protectionists and Investors

To round off the 11th Heidelberg Innovation Forum, the most persuasive business idea was crowned before around 120 researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. An international specialist jury chose trustedSafe GmbH as its winner. CEO Walter Seemayer collected the bwcon "Best Business Idea" award from the Baden-Württemberg: Connected industry initiative. In addition to the prize, this year an innovation voucher from the European FORT support programme to the tune of 5,000 euros was also awarded.

Data storage in the cloud provides companies and users with many benefits. An important pre-requisite in the process is data security. The data must be protected against undesired and uncontrolled access by third parties; a state of affairs that must be guaranteed. This is where the solution approach by Berlin-based trustedSafe GmbH comes into play. Based on research findings by FOKUS, Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems, the data is separated into individual modules when this method is applied. The data is then encoded and split between several storage locations. A potential attacker can thus never completely recover the data. The data owner always retains the methodology of how to re-create the document, as well as a final component of this document. This method allows the stringent legal requirements to be fulfilled in terms of data protection for cloud-based data storage. This is an approach that won over the jury.

This year, the winner also receives the opportunity to further develop its technology with European partners thanks to a trans-regional innovation voucher to the sum of 5,000 euros. This additional prize is sponsored by the EU FORT project (FOstering continuous Research and Technology application). The project promotes expansion of capabilities for distributing and applying research findings, and implements international measures to generate an organisational culture promoting innovation.

The four-person jury comprised:
•    Jan Sessenhausen, Investment Manager, High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
•    Reinhard Hamburger, C-For-U Business Consulting and board member of Baden-Württemberg: Connected e.V.
•    Andreas Wilker, CEO Bechtle GmbH      
•    Peter Alesnik, TechnoCenter at the University of Maribor Technology Transfer Office

11th Heidelberg Innovation Forum focuses on cloud computing

Promising business ideas and excellent IT research findings presented succinctly and to the point – the 11th Heidelberg Innovation Forum continued its tradition this year and was targeted at investors and decision-makers from industry. The event, organised by MFG Baden-Württemberg together with EML European Media Laboratory GmbH, focussed on the subject area of cloud computing. In this vein, cloud-based solutions for electromobility, teamwork and data storage were among the presentations. In presentations lasting eight minutes each, a total of 21 researchers, developers and company founders were called upon to convince both the specialist audience and the four-person jury of their ideas.
 
Technology is only half the story from the investors' point of view

The subsequent "Cloud Start-ups" workshop, organised as part of the European KARIM open innovation programme, provided an opportunity to exchange ideas on the subjects of international marketing strategies and shareholdings by foreign investors. In this context, it became clear that investors rarely take into account only the technology of a start-up company. An investment only becomes attractive if several factors add up at the same time. These include having the correct business model and a coherent marketing strategy. A particularly relevant aspect for start-ups with niche products is that it is important to understand exactly as to when the potential customer is prepared to pay for a product or service. And finally, regional and cultural differences can play an important role in the context of cloud computing as a global trend.