From student research project to a civil protection start-up

With the support of the RPTU & HS Kaiserslautern start-up office, the inventied start-up from Rockenhausen founded a company in 2021 that specialises in civil protection and disaster relief. As THW emergency services personnel, the team develops products for emergency services personnel. We asked Lukas Kalnik and Jan Schellhaaß from inventied what motivated them to found the company and work with the RPTU.

Setting up your own company is a big step. How did you find the courage to do it?

Jan Schellhaaß: It really is a big step and, as with many start-ups, there are ups and downs. But I'm glad we went down this route. It all started with a student research project when Lukas and I were studying industrial engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Kaiserslautern. It involved finding a practical solution for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), where we volunteer. The result was a prototype for a trailer body that is used in rescue and recovery operations. For example, when a house is in danger of collapsing. With the new trailer body, emergency services can now transport all the materials needed for rescue operations, which was not possible before. The loading and unloading of materials is more ergonomic and time-efficient for emergency services. This means that they can get to the scene faster to save lives and livelihoods.

Lukas Kalnik: It was a project close to both our hearts. Especially because our idea solves an acute problem in practice in civil defence and disaster relief. So, without thinking twice, I proudly posted the trailer body on Facebook. At the time, we didn't think it would turn into something bigger. But the Facebook post received a positive response from the THW nationwide. This showed us that there is a need for solutions in disaster relief. That gave us the courage to make it official. With Markus Weidmann and Trang Lam, we brought two more volunteers from the THW with engineering expertise on board. And that's how inventied came about. We then made the trailer structure market-ready and named it ‘Vario-Load-Rescue’.

If you want to start a business like you did, where do you even begin?

Jan Schellhaaß: To be honest, at the beginning we had no idea where to start. So the contact with the RPTU start-up office and the Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences helped us all the more. When we told them about our idea, they immediately knew how they could support us. Katharina Neitzel, Natascha Möller and Bernhard Lorig advised us on setting up the company and connected us with relevant people.

Lukas Kalnik: We also received support with the bureaucratic process of applying for financial support through the EXIST funding programme. This allowed us to devote 100 per cent of our time to our idea and we are now a start-up that can develop products for emergency services, by emergency services.

And you still have close ties with the RPTU...

Lukas Kalnik: When we had calls for tenders for student projects, we distributed them through various channels and contacts. Among others, also through the start-up office, which has an overview of the chairs of the RPTU and the Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences. The team then found a suitable match for us.

Jan Schellhaaß: For example, when we were still in the product development phase to make Vario-Load Rescue and other products for civil defence and disaster relief market-ready, we worked together with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at RPTU in the form of a master's thesis and several project works. Currently, the Department of Economics and the Marketing Department of Prof. Dr. Stefan Roth are supporting us in our marketing and sales strategy as part of a student research project.

Anna, you are in your tenth semester of a business administration degree at RPTU and are working with two other students on this research project with inventied. How does the collaboration work?

Anna Schröder: As part of our project, we are conducting a target group analysis and examining the properties of existing products and their possible applications. Our goal is to gain valuable insights that will help us to further improve the products and tap into new market potential. At the beginning, we had the opportunity to take a close look at inventied's products and their special features in a workshop with short presentations by inventied and the chair. We particularly liked that. It also allowed us to learn more about industrial goods markets and market research processes. The direct exchange with the founding team helped us a lot to develop a better understanding of our goals and to prepare us well for the tasks ahead.

Marcel, you are supervising the student research project as a research assistant at the marketing chair. What is special about this project?

Marcel Mallach: What makes this case particularly exciting is that it not only has a real and at the same time highly relevant social reference. It also enables the transfer of theoretical knowledge into practice. Disaster protection requires interdisciplinary approaches and creative solutions – this has been made strikingly clear to us not least by the recent severe weather disasters in neighbouring Saarland and other regions. Such events make it clear how urgently innovations in disaster protection are needed and how relevant this topic has become in our everyday lives. By working with a start-up like inventied, we as a university department offer the opportunity to apply our scientific expertise in practice. At the same time, we support students in applying their academic knowledge directly to specific problems. Such projects show that university research does not remain in an ivory tower, but actively contributes to overcoming real-world challenges.

What's next for inventied? What can we expect from you in terms of civil protection and disaster relief?

Lukas Kalnik: Our vision is to improve civil protection and disaster relief worldwide. Disaster relief means, for example, adapting to and preventing the consequences of natural disasters. That's why we're particularly proud that this year we received the highest state award in climate protection for our innovation platform Co-invent, the Blue Compass from the German Environment Agency. The platform enables emergency services from all over Germany to submit their ideas for disaster relief based on their practical experience. We then implement these together. Several great products have already been developed. Co-invent and the award make it clear how important it is to work together and exchange ideas with clever, innovative minds. We would like to expand this, whether it's with tinkerers in disaster protection or through research.

Jan Schellhaaß: At this point, we would also like to thank the start-up office and the chairs of the RPTU for their support so far. We look forward to continuing to work with the existing departments and also with others! The results have given us exciting insights and it helps a lot to look at disaster control from different angles. So: If you also find the topic of civil protection and disaster control exciting, feel free to approach us and we'll see how we can get together.

Author: Lisa Buu