At the end of January, the first-ever F/LIST TechDay took place in Thomasberg, Austria. Four start-ups pitched in front of an expert jury from the globally manufacturer of high-end interiors for business jets, yachts and residences. The declared aim was to learn about new technologies and to make F/LIST ready for the future.
Last year, F/LIST launched a company-wide game-changing process and started to deal extensively with future-related topics and new technologies. As part of this transformation, F/LIST founded the TechDays initiative. The idea behind the TechDays is to prepare F/LIST for the future. Although F/LIST has an exceptionally strong innovative power, new input from outside are always welcome.
“There are many start-ups promoting game-changing technologies, but they have no markets. We do have markets and we are eager to adopt new technologies”, Katharina List-Nagl, CEO of F/LIST explains.
Four start-ups attended
Four start-ups were invited to the F/LIST headquarters in Thomasberg to present their game-changing technologies, products and services. Each start-up had eight minutes in which to introduce their product and to demonstrate its use. This was followed by a fifteen-minute discussion round, during which the jury asked questions and tried out the products. Around 40 F/LIST employees from different departments, such as the research and development department as well as marketing and sales, joined the event and the discussion was enriched by questions and opinions from the audience.
“The inspiration for this day was a dialog about corporate strategy, about where we are going as a company”, explains Markus Inäbnit, Executive Director, Corporate Strategy at F/LIST. “We asked ourselves what technologies would be needed in the future – that was the initial spark for our TechDay.”
Further exchange
Alongside Katharina List-Nagl and Markus Inäbnit, the jury included Andreas Aigner, COO, Michael Groiss, CFO and Ulrich Gehling, Vice President Aircraft Interior Projects. He is enthusiastic about the first TechDay. “I thought it was absolutely brilliant. There were great topics, and for all four cases (i.e. start-ups) we immediately had application fields in mind.” In the coming weeks, there will be further exchange between F/LIST and a selected start-up with the greatest potential for future cooperation.